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.
Stunning close-up view of an M5.5 flare
Credit: IRIS, LMSAL/NASA, Serena Maria Lezzi
In this animation you see a strong (class M5.5) solar flare, an intense localized eruption of electromagnetic radiation in the Sun's atmosphere, occurring in active region NOAA 13511 on December 8, 2023. IRIS's field of view captured the moment when the release of magnetic energy in the active region triggered the brightening of the entire area. The slit of the spectrograph (black vertical line) falls exactly on the region of interest. Therefore, the analysis of IRIS's data will allow to unveil the dynamic processes going on during this gorgeous flare.