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.
Flare eruption bursts through magnetic loops
Credit: IRIS, LMSAL/NASA, Paul Bryans
IRIS observed this B7 class flare in 2014. Before the event occurs, we see loops suspended above the Sun's surface, with plasma raining down towards the Sun. The flare then triggered an eruption that forced material up through these loops and into the Sun's atmosphere. Watch for some of this material falling back down towards the Sun, following the magnetic field as it does so.