APOD
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.
Sun Dance
Explanation: Hot gas dances across the surface of the Sun in this picture from the orbiting TRACE satellite . The temperature of the gas is color coded so that blue represents hundreds of thousands of Kelvin , while red represents extreme temperatures in the millions of Kelvin. Hot gas is channeled into lanes ordered by the Sun's chaotic magnetic field . Pictures like these have shown that plasma heating occurs in relatively small regions.
| Date | August 11, 1998 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit: A. Title (Stanford Lockheed Institute), TRACE, NASA |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |