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Credit & Copyright: Courtesy
TRACE Team,
NASA
Explanation:
As the Sun heads South, crossing the celestial equator today
at 1:37 a.m. Eastern Time,
Autumn begins for Earth's Northern Hemisphere.
This Autumnal Equinox
finds an increasingly active Sun steadily
approaching a solar cycle maximum expected
around the year 2003.
The solar activity cycle is driven by a periodic winding up of
the Sun's internal magnetic field.
This colorized picture is a mosaic of
recent ultraviolet images from the orbiting
TRACE satellite
sensitive to light emitted by
highly charged iron atoms.
Growing in
number,
the intricate structures visible are
the Sun's hot active regions
with temperatures over
a million
degrees Fahrenheit
and their associated magnetic loops.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Sun - equinox - solar cycle
Publications with words: Sun - equinox - solar cycle
See also:
- APOD: 2024 March 19 Á A Picturesque Equinox Sunset
- APOD: 2024 February 19 Á Looking Sideways from the Parker Solar Probe
- Circling the Sun
- APOD: 2023 December 11 Á Solar Minimum versus Solar Maximum
- APOD: 2023 November 19 Á Space Station, Solar Prominences, Sun
- APOD: 2023 October 25 Á Gone in 60 Seconds: A Green Flash Sunset
- Circular Sun Halo