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Joint observations by SUMER and TRACE of electrified gas in solar atmosphere
Joint observations by SUMER and TRACE of electrified gas in solar atmosphere
Date: 16 May 2002 Copyright: NASA and the SOHO/TRACE teams Show in archive: true
Joint observations by SUMER and TRACE show winds of electrified gas rip through the solar atmosphere at nearly the local speed of sound.
This movie begins with a full-disc view of the Sun from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. The image is in false colour, showing coronal loops extending in all directions from the Sun's surface. The second part of the movie uses images from the TRACE spacecraft to zoom in close to a group of coronal loops near the centre of the solar disc. This sequence is also in false colour, and electrified gas streams along the loops (especially the ones directed towards the bottom left of the image), giving them the appearance of a fountain. This is evidence for the idea that coronal loops are currents of electrified gas being propelled against solar gravity.
