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.
Three Solar Flares
Credit: IRIS, LMSAL/NASA, P. R. Jibben
IRIS observed three flares in a few hours on 12-13 February 2014. The active region AR 11974 was involved in the production of several flares and in this Si IV movie IRIS observes a C5.9 flare followed by an M1.8 flare and finally, a C7.4 solar flare. All of these flares exhibit interesting motions in the flare loops that cross the IRIS slit. This active region is magnetically complex, meaning there are many regions of mixed magnetic fields close together. This complexity provides opportunities for magnetic reconnection, leading to dozens of spectacular eruptions.