Astronomy Picture of the Day 5-08-02

NASA ^ | 5-08-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2002 May 8

Sunspot Loops in Ultraviolet
Credit: TRACE Project, NASA

Explanation: It was a quiet day on the Sun. The above image shows, however, that even during off days the Sun's surface is a busy place. Shown in ultraviolet light, the relatively cool dark regions have temperatures of thousands of degrees Celsius. Large sunspot group AR 9169 is visible as the bright area near the horizon. The bright glowing gas flowing around the sunspots has a temperature of over one million degrees Celsius. The reason for the high temperatures is unknown but though to be related to the rapidly changing magnetic field loops that channel solar plasma. Sunspot group AR 9169 moved across the Sun during 2000 September and decayed in a few weeks.

[petuniasevan]

Since ultraviolet radiation is blocked by Earth's atmosphere, this kind of photography must be done from orbit.

This beautiful image is courtesy of the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer. TRACE is a mission of the Stanford-Lockheed Institute for Space Research (a joint program of the Lockheed-Martin Advanced Technology Center's Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory and Stanford's Solar Observatories Group ), and part of the NASA Small Explorer program.

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[petuniasevan]

APOD PING!

[wafflehouse]

WOW!!!

AWESOME picture!!!!

[sleavelessinseattle]

I sat behind a girl with hair like this on a bus in Olympia Wa! Swear to God!!! Great Picture!!!

[StriperSniper]

I think I found her WEBSITE.

[sleavelessinseattle]

AYEEE MY EYES!!!MY EYES!!!

[DallasGal]

Thank you for the daily ping. All the pictures are amazing.

[fnord]

Is that a host blocking part of the sun ???

old inside joke, hehe

[dd5339]

Wow! The HF ought to be jammin!

73's

[petuniasevan]

Ping ClassyGreenEyedBlonde!

[Dixie Mom]

Sun-sational! Thanks for the ping. :)

[2Trievers]

Is that the only thing burning!? LOL &;-)

[sleavelessinseattle]

My fear of bald punk rocker chicks is honestly acquired, Miss, I DID survive the Cobain Grunge period in Seattle, afterall, Haughty sniff.

[2Trievers]

I prefer some historical context to my punk! &;-)

Apologies to 'tunia! &;-)

[aomagrat]

Now that's a BBQ pit!

[RightWhale]

Did you remember to send royalty payment to Virgiliu Pop for photographing his sun?

[fnord]

LOL :-)

[sistergoldenhair]

Great picture!

[Vigilantcitizen]

Thanks for the ping.

Beautiful picture of the Sun.

[Helix]

Since ultraviolet radiation is blocked by Earth's atmosphere, this kind of photography must be done from orbit.

Beautiful picture! Did you know that some insects can see well into the UV range? I wonder if that was ever a useful ability on Earth.