SPACEPLASMA

The upper atmosphere of the Sun is dominated by plasma filled magnetic loops (coronal loops) whose temperature and pressure vary over a wide range. The appearance of coronal loops follows the emergence of magnetic flux, which is generated by dynamo processes inside the Sun.

Emerging flux regions (EFRs) appear when magnetic flux bundles emerge from the solar interior through the photosphere and into the upper atmosphere (chromosphere and the corona). The characteristic feature of EFR is the Ω-shaped loops (created by the magnetic buoyancy/Parker instability), they appear as developing bipolar sunspots in magnetograms, and as arch filament systems in Hα. EFRs interact with pre-existing magnetic fields in the corona and produce small flares (plasma heating) and collimated plasma jets.

The GIF show multiple energetic jets in three different wavelengths. The light has been colorized in red, green and blue, corresponding to three coronal temperature regimes ranging from ~0.8Mk to 2MK.

Coronal loop: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_loop

Magnetic flux: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_flux

Convection zone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convection_zone

Photosphere: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosphere

Chromosphere: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromosphere

Corona: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona

Eugene Parker: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Parker

Magnetogram: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetogram

H-alpha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-alpha

Image Credit: SDO/U. Aberystwyth