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Twisting Plasma Interactions

June 19, 2017
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory sees several short stalks of cooler, darker plasma spun and twisted as they interacted with each other at the sun's edge, June 14-15, 2017.

Several short stalks of cooler, darker plasma spun and twisted as they interacted with each other at the sun's edge (June 14-15, 2017). The row of strands, which together form a prominence, were being pulled back and forth by magnetic forces. The dynamic action was observed for just over one day. Also noteworthy is the rapid development of a bright active region in the upper right about halfway through the clip.

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SDO is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Its Atmosphere Imaging Assembly was built by the Lockheed Martin Solar Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), Palo Alto, California.

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