by APOD Robot » Tue Feb 26, 2013 5:06 am
Coronal Rain on the Sun
Explanation: Does it rain on the Sun? Yes, although what falls is not water but extremely hot plasma. An
example occurred in mid-July 2012 after an eruption on the Sun that produced both a
Coronal Mass Ejection and a moderate
solar flare. What was more unusual, however, was what happened next. Plasma in the nearby
solar corona was imaged cooling and falling back, a phenomenon known as
coronal rain. Because they are electrically charged,
electrons,
protons, and
ions in the rain were gracefully channeled along existing
magnetic loops near the Sun's surface, making the scene appear as a surreal three-dimensional sourceless waterfall. The resulting
surprisingly-serene spectacle is shown in
ultraviolet light and highlights matter glowing at a temperature of about 50,000
Kelvin. Each second in the
above time lapse video takes about 6 minutes in real time, so that the entire
coronal rain sequence lasted about 10 hours.
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[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130226.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_130226.jpg[/img] [size=150]Coronal Rain on the Sun[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] Does it rain on the Sun? Yes, although what falls is not water but extremely hot plasma. An [url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/news/coronal-rain.html]example occurred[/url] in mid-July 2012 after an eruption on the Sun that produced both a [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_mass_ejection]Coronal Mass Ejection[/url] and a moderate [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap031029.html]solar flare[/url]. What was more unusual, however, was what happened next. Plasma in the nearby [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090726.html]solar corona[/url] was imaged cooling and falling back, a phenomenon known as [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_Rain]coronal rain[/url]. Because they are electrically charged, [url=http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/whelect.html]electrons[/url], [url=http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/proton.html]protons[/url], and [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion]ions[/url] in the rain were gracefully channeled along existing [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap050814.html]magnetic loops[/url] near the Sun's surface, making the scene appear as a surreal three-dimensional sourceless waterfall. The resulting [url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/02/21/coronal_rain_streams_of_ionized_gas_rain_on_sun_after_a_solar_flare.html]surprisingly-serene spectacle[/url] is shown in [url=http://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/uv.html]ultraviolet light[/url] and highlights matter glowing at a temperature of about 50,000 [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin]Kelvin[/url]. Each second in the [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ghaf2du-XM]above time lapse video[/url] takes about 6 minutes in real time, so that the entire [url=http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a004000/a004026/]coronal rain sequence[/url] lasted about 10 hours.
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