The Sun’s Surface Is Writhing With Magnetic Loops

We’ve seen the sun from plenty of angles, but NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory has captured a doozy of a shot. Here’s what you’re looking at:

Cascades of spiraling magnetic loops observed in extreme ultraviolet light by SDO danced and twisted above an active region on the Sun (April 3-5, 2011). These loops are charged particles spinning along the magnetic field lines, and thus visually revealing them. The bright active region was fairly strong and the activity persistent, though not explosive. At one point darker plasma can be seen being pulled back and forth across the region’s center

[Via Universe Today]

Republished from io9


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