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.
At Limb Activity from AR12849
Credit: IRIS, LMSAL/NASA, Lucas Guliano (SAO)
Observing active regions at the limb provides insight that would otherwise be impossible if observed on disk. The cooler background over the solar limb provides a backdrop for flares and prominences that allows for the resolution of features that would otherwise be obscured by the bright solar disk. Catching interesting events as they occur at the limb can be tricky to plan for, but occasionally we are lucky enough to observe exciting events from ARs right as they rotate into visibility. AR12849 appeared to be fairly active even before it rotated into full view. Being aware of how active this region was before it came into view, we were able to plan accordingly. This video shows the large amount of activity produced by the region while it was at the limb including a large jet, several smaller flares, and a flare producing a large amount of solar material resulting in a whirling prominence.