Fibrils Flower on the Sun
Explanation:
When does the Sun look like a flower?
In a specific color of red light emitted by hydrogen, as
featured here, some regions of the
solar chromosphere may resemble
a
rose.
The color-inverted image was taken in 2014 October and shows
active solar region 2177.
The petals dominating the frame are actually magnetically confined tubes of hot
plasma called
fibrils,
some of which extend longer the diameter of the Earth.
In the central
region many of these fibrils are seen end-on, while the surrounding regions
are typically populated with curved fibrils.
When seen over the Sun's edge, these huge plasma tubes are called
spicules,
and when they occur in passive regions they are termed
mottles.
Sunspot
region 2177 survived for several
more days before the complex and tumultuous
magnetic field
poking through the
Sun's surface evolved yet again.
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Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
