Plumes of hot gas shoot across the surface on even an average day on the Sun. Such volatile activity was captured in dramatic detail recently by the new Hinode [ http://en.wikipedia…] satellite launched by Japan [ https://www.odci.go…] in late September. Near the horizon, active regions [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] around a sunspot [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] eject hot plasma [ http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Plasma_(phy sics) ] along the magnetic field [ http://www-spof.gsf…] lines that connect the sunspot to surrounding regions in the solar atmosphere [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Bright regions are hotter and more active. The bubbling granularity [ http://csep10.phys.…] and continuous activity of the Sun's photosphere [ http://csep10.phys.…] is visible in the foreground. This frame from the movie [ http://hinode.nao.a…] is in representative color and covers a solar region [ http://hinode.nao.a…] of about 8,000 kilometers. ("Note: To download the full MPG movie file, click on the picture.")
Explanation
Plumes of hot gas shoot across the surface on even an average day on the Sun. Such volatile activity was captured in dramatic detail recently by the new Hinode [ http://en.wikipedia…] satellite launched by Japan [ https://www.odci.go…] in late September. Near the horizon, active regions [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] around a sunspot [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] eject hot plasma [ http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Plasma_(phy sics) ] along the magnetic field [ http://www-spof.gsf…] lines that connect the sunspot to surrounding regions in the solar atmosphere [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Bright regions are hotter and more active. The bubbling granularity [ http://csep10.phys.…] and continuous activity of the Sun's photosphere [ http://csep10.phys.…] is visible in the foreground. This frame from the movie [ http://hinode.nao.a…] is in representative color and covers a solar region [ http://hinode.nao.a…] of about 8,000 kilometers. ("Note: To download the full MPG movie file, click on the picture.")
