Explanation:
It's one of the
baddest
sunspot regions in years.
Active Region 1429 may not only look, to some, like an
angrybird --
it has thrown off some of the most
powerful flares and
coronal mass ejections of the current
solar cycle.
The extended plumes from these explosions have even rained particles on the Earth's magnetosphere that have resulted in
colorful auroras.
Pictured above,
AR 1429 was captured in great detail in the Sun's chromosphere three days ago by isolating a
color of light
emitted primarily by hydrogen.
The resulting image is shown in inverted false color with dark regions being the brightest and hottest.
Giant magnetically-channeled
tubes of hot gas, some longer than the Earth, are known as
spicules
and can be seen
carpeting
the chromosphere.
The light tendril just above
AR 1429 is a cool
filament
hovering just over the active sunspot region.
As solar maximum
nears in the next few years, the increasingly wound and twisted
magnetic field of the Sun may create even more
furious
active regions that chirp even more
energetic puffs of solar plasma into our Solar System.
Gallery:
See images of the latest planetary conjunction
