The Sun on 29 July 2014 - possible pseudostreamer viewed by PROBA2's SWAP camera
Date: 29 July 2014
Satellite: PROBA2
Copyright: ESA/ROB
This image of the Sun is from a time-lapse video from ESA's PROBA2 SWAP camera. This instrument has been monitoring the Sun since February 2010 producing striking views showing the three-dimensional structure of the solar corona.
SWAP’s ability to observe extreme-ultraviolet light — typically emitted by very hot objects — gives a truly unique view, showing how the Sun’s corona changes and evolves over time. Due to its large viewing angle, PROBA2 sees a region of the corona not seen by the other solar workhorses, including the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), and NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).
The coronal plasma glows in ultraviolet and extreme-ultraviolet light due to its extremely high temperature. By picking one particular wavelength — a very narrow band centred at 17.4 nm — SWAP is able to single out structures with temperatures of around one million degrees.
This image, from 29 July 2014, shows a possible pseudostreamer, indicated by the white lines.
