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.
Active corona seen above the limb
Credit: IRIS, LMSAL/NASA, Ramada Sukarmadji
On the 4th of December 2021, IRIS observed an active region at the limb which shows complex structures and dynamics above it. We can see loops, surges, coronal rain, and prominences, which reflects the heating and cooling in the solar corona. The temperatures within these structures can be vastly different ranging from 1000 - 5000000 K. These structures will continue to rapidly evolve until the active region decays, which can last from days to weeks.