Astronomy Picture of the Day

An X Class Flare Region on the Sun


Bild Note: 2 (2 Votes)

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zorg.ch
#104540 by @ 07.11.2007 00:00 - nach oben -
An X Class Flare Region on the Sun


Explanation:

Why does the Sun flare?

Unpredictably, our
Sun unleashes tremendous
flares
expelling hot gas into the
Solar
System

that can affect satellites, astronauts, and power grids on Earth.

This close up of an active region on the Sun that produced a powerful
X-class flare
was captured by the orbiting
TRACE satellite.

Clicking on the image should bring up a movie that shows the evolution of
Active Region 9906 over about four hours.

The glowing gas flowing around the relatively stable
magnetic
field
loops above the
Sun's photosphere
has a temperature of over ten million degrees
Celsius.

These flows occurred after violently unstable
magnetic
reconnection
events above the Sun produced the flare.

Many things about
solar active regions are not well
understood including the presence of
dark regions that appear to move inward during the movie.




Credit & Copyright
zorg.ch
#104607 by @ 13.11.2007 11:14 - nach oben -
over ten million degrees celsius. do sind jo die -273°C i di ander richtig en muggefurz degäge