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.
Two part flare with ribbons
Credit: IRIS, LMSAL/NASA, Sean Brannon
In this movie from an IRIS coordinated observation with Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO), we see a small flare that erupts in two distinct phases. In the first phase, there is a pronounced "Z"-shaped ribbon pattern, followed by erupting plasma following the reconnected magnetic field. In the second phase shortly after, the ribbons are less visible under the flaring loops but still covered by the instrument spectrograph.