gallery - magnetic Sun

TRACE ultraviolet movie of an active region as it rotates with the Sun over a period of 8 days. The loops in the active region are hot (around a million degrees) and highly dynamic. They light up at different times during the course of the movie.

A flare observed with TRACE, in the ultraviolet, on 14 th July (Bastille Day) 2000. An arcade of loops, which looks like a slinky, is observed during the flare.

A flare observed by TRACE, in the ultraviolet, on 14 th July (Bastille Day) 2000. The different colours in the movie show plasma at different temperatures.

An active region observed with TRACE. A large flare occurs during the movie near the centre of the frame. An arcade of loops can be seen as in the Bastille Day flare. This is a common observation during flares.

A four-part movie of a solar firefly. The top left movie shows the firefly in ultraviolet radiation as seen with TRACE. The top right frame shows the firefly in H-alpha. The bottom two frames show the temperature (left) and density (right) of the firefly. The temperature and density of the firefly increase as it evolves before it explodes.

Full-Sun SOHO-EIT ultraviolet movie. The small bright spots outside the active regions are the fireflies. Even though the fireflies are called X-ray bright points, they can also be observed in ultraviolet radiation.

YOHKOH movie of the X-ray Sun during 1994, showing the very hot plasma in the corona (over a million degrees). The rotation of the Sun and the variation in the number of active regions can be seen.

A large flare observed in X-rays with the SXT instrument on board YOHKOH. The flare and its evolution can be seen on the limb of the Sun.

Astronauts performing a spacewalk.

Still Images