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.
Fiery peacock show now streaming on the Sun
Credit: IRIS, LMSAL/NASA, Juraj Lorincik
The animation details dynamic events of January 11, 2024 in the active region AR13538 observed by IRIS on the north-western limb of the Sun. Fan-like repeated surges of chromospheric plasma, known as 'peacock jets' or 'peacock tails', unfold in the central part of the active region. Peacock jets are associated to strong magnetic fields, typical for solar sunspots. The speeds of the peacock jets have been reported to reach 100 km/s and these structures can exceed the Earth's radius in size. Adjacent to the peacock jet, two small, brief solar flares occurred roughly at 08:00 UT, while massive arcs of coronal rain, descending onto the Sun, can be discerned in the north.