Solar Magnetic Arcade
A major X5.7 solar flare produced this arcade resembling a popular slinky toy, on 14 July 2000, in Active Region 9077 (AR9077). The enormous loops are actually magnetic field lines which trap the glowing, cooling plasma above the relatively dark solar surface.The event also blasted an enormous cloud of energetic charged particles toward planet Earth, triggering magnetic storms and dramatic auroral displays. The false-color image covers an expansive 230,000 by 170,000 kilometer area on the Sun’s surface (Earth’s diameter is about 12,800 kilometers) and was recorded in extreme ultraviolet light.
NASA’s Transition Region And Coronal Explorer, known as TRACE, observed the event in three colors: the red image shows the ultraviolet
continuum, generally characteristic of cool, dense gas; the blue image
shows the 171 Å pass band, characteristic of material around 1 million
degrees; the green channel – 195 Å, shows material hotter than about 1.5 million
degrees up to approximately 10 million degrees.
Credit: TRACE, Stanford-Lockheed ISR, NASA