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.
A Major Solar Flare with no Eruption
Credit: IRIS, LMSAL/NASA, Jean-Pierre Wuelser
Large solar flares often go hand-in-hand with massive eruptions that travel from the sun into interplanetary space and potentially affect Earth. The IRIS Movie of the Day posted on October 12 2017 shows a good example of an eruptive flare. In some cases, however, the magnetic field above an active region confines the flare and prevents any material from escaping. This movie shows one of several spectacular X-class flares in October 2014, none of which erupted.