IRIS Movie of the Day
At least once a week a movie of the Sun taken by NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) is posted by one of the scientists operating the instrument.
Twisted loops at the limb
Credit: IRIS, LMSAL/NASA, Tiago Pereira
On Aug 27, IRIS observed bright loop structures just outside the solar limb. These structures are linked to eruptions and become very bright. They are also peculiar because they recur in the same place. There is one near the beginning of the movie, a larger one at 08:50, and another at 11:00. All have the telltale shape of a twisted loop, most likely related to the release of energy through magnetic reconnection.