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.
C2.7 flare caught by IRIS
Credit: IRIS, LMSAL/NASA, Gregal Vissers, SU
During its disc passage active region NOAA 12712 gave off two C-class flares, the stronger one of which was observed by IRIS on May 28. The C2.7 flare is prominently visible in the C II slit-jaw movie in the top right, shooting out material that later falls back to the surface again along arched trajectories, both towards the leading part of the active region on the right and the trailing part on the left, where the flare occurred. Luckily, the IRIS slit crosses the flare exactly as it goes off, catching the strong broadening and enhancement of all the major lines (C II, Si IV and Mg II h & k), as well as the usually weaker lines (like O I and C I) that IRIS routinely observes.