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.
Evolution of a Solar Active Region
Credit: IRIS, LMSAL/NASA, Jake Parker
IRIS observed this solar active region, AR12685, for its entire path across the Sun. It takes an active region about two weeks to cross the portion of the Sun we can see. This video shows the first week of AR12685's crossing. As the complicated magnetic field that makes up AR12685 relaxes it transforms magnetic energy into heat, motion, and light which is seen easily in its many small brightenings and eruptions.