Fireworks on the Sun

By Nancy Atkinson - March 26, 2011 at 3:23 AM UTC | Solar Astronomy

The Sun continues to be active! This movie from the Solar Dynamics Observatory starts at 11:35 UT on March 24, 2011 and goes through midnight. It shows the active area 1176 - and active it was. Several flares are visible -- according to the SDO website, there are B, C and M class flares all seen in this 20 second video. See below for another movie from March 19 of a looping solar prominence eruption on the limb of the Sun.

Prominences are large, bright features extending outward from the Sun's surface, usually from 2 sunspots. Prominences often form in a loop shape, as can be seen in this video. What you are seeing is plasma trapped in the magnetic fields. Prominences are easier to see when they are on the limb of the Sun, like this one. Filaments are simply prominences seen from directly above.

Credit: NASA/SDO/GSFC

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com