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Credit & Copyright: Alan Friedman
(Averted Imagination)
Explanation:
It's one of the
baddest
sunspot regions in years.
Active Region 1429 may not only look, to some, like an
angry
bird --
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
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Sun - sunspot
Publications with words: Sun - sunspot
See also:
- APOD: 2024 February 19 Á Looking Sideways from the Parker Solar Probe
- Circling the Sun
- APOD: 2023 December 11 Á Solar Minimum versus Solar Maximum
- APOD: 2023 November 19 Á Space Station, Solar Prominences, Sun
- APOD: 2023 October 25 Á Gone in 60 Seconds: A Green Flash Sunset
- Circular Sun Halo
- APOD: 2023 August 1 Á Monster Solar Prominence