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.
Flare eruption and loop
Credit: IRIS, LMSAL/NASA, Paul Bryans
A bright coil of plasma overcomes the gravity holding it down and erupts into the atmosphere. Gravity eventually wins, though, and the plasma flows back down to the surface guided by the magnetic field along a magnetic loop.