19 March 2024 - Mission Day: 10336 - DOY: 079
Pick of The Week
 
 

Slicing through the layers (September 17, 2002)

  • Image: Higher resolution version (TIF,4.1M)
  • Movies: Quicktime(4.4M), MPEG(3.4M).
  • Each of the images from SOHO reveals different features of the Sun and at generally different levels, like cutting through layers to the surface. However, some of the coronal "layers" observed here are intertwined so these labels are somewhat arbitrary. The first two from MDI show the photosphere or surface at about 6,000 degrees C., in an approximation of visible light and, secondly, in a magnetogram, which reveals magnetic activity. Black and white indicates north and south polarity. The next four from EIT observe the corona at different wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light, and at increasingly higher levels. The orange Sun (304Å) shows ionized helium in the lower corona at 60,000 degrees C. The blue Sun (171Å) images ionized iron at 1 million degrees C. The green Sun (195Å) shows even more ionized iron at 1.5 million degrees C. And finally, the yellow Sun (284Å) yet even more ionized iron in the upper corona at 2.5 million degrees C. Certain features can be identified in all the images, but other features are unique to each instrument. The video clip show the transition from one to the next as you make your way out from the surface to the edges of the corona. Other instruments explore the internal structure of the Sun, but that discussion will have to wait for another day.

    Previous Picks of the Week

    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.

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    Last modification: July 27, 2020

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