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PIA21764: Coils of Magnetic Field Lines
 Target Name:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  SDO
 Instrument:  Atmosphere Imaging Assembly
 Product Size:  1483 x 1357 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  SDO
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA21764.tif (3.194 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA21764.jpg (106.3 kB)

Click on image above for all movie download options

Original Caption Released with Image:

A smallish solar filament looks like it collapsed into the sun and set off a minor eruption that hurled plasma into space (June 20, 2017). Then, the disrupted magnetic field immediately began to reorganize itself, hence the bright series of spirals coiling up over that area. The magnetic field lines are made visible in extreme ultraviolet light as charged particles spin along them. Also of interest are the darker, cooler strands of plasma being pulled and twisted at the edge of the sun just below the active region. The activity here is in a 21-hour period.

Movies
PIA21764_Coils_closeup_171_big.mp4
PIA21764_Coils_closeup_171_sm.mp4

SDO is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Its Atmosphere Imaging Assembly was built by the Lockheed Martin Solar Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), Palo Alto, California.

Image Credit:
NASA/GSFC/Solar Dynamics Observatory

Image Addition Date:
2017-06-27