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.
Minor Flare - Early Sign of New Solar Cycle 25
Credit: IRIS, LMSAL/NASA
The Sun had experienced a deep solar minimum, a phase of very little activity, over the past few years. Recently solar activity has gradually returned and a new solar cycle (#25) has just started. This small flare, occurring on May 29, 2020 at the northeast limb, was among the earliest signs of this new solar cycle. Although small in magnitude, this flare has all typical characteristics of a standard, moderate-sized flare, showing a cusp-shaped bright loop, accompanied by episodic surges (material shooting up and then falling back down). There was also persistent coronal rain in the loops of this active region, present before, during, and after the flare.