Two active regions, up close and personal (July 5, 2007)

Using STEREO (Ahead) spacecraft's highest resolution frames (2048×2048 pixels per frame), we can zoom in a lot on areas of interest and still maintain good visual acuity. Over 34 hours (June 29-30, 2007), we zoom in on a pair of active regions and observe numerous instances of flaring activity, especially from the lead one of the two. These were low intensity flares. With frames taken every 10 minutes (and paced here at six frames a second), the motion is not jumpy or freeze-framed. It looks like a small surge of material reaches out from the trailing active region just before the clip ends. The image and clip show material at about 60,000 degrees C not far above the Sun's surface as seen in extreme ultraviolet light. (The still image shows a brightening of one active region whose intensity caused an optical illusion or aberration across the frame).

SOHO began its Weekly Pick some time after sending a weekly image or video clip to the American Museum of Natural History (Rose Center) in New York City. There, the SOHO Weekly Pick is displayed with some annotations on a large plasma display.

If your institution would also like to receive the same Weekly Pick from us for display (usually in Photoshop or QuickTime format), please send your inquiry to steele.hill@gsfc.nasa.gov.