Like Painting on the Sun's Layers 
The images of this Sun (Dec. 7, 2011) taken at almost the same time are shown in various wavelengths in various temperatures and layers of the Sun. In addition, we superimposed an illustration of the Sun's magnetic field lines to the view. We start off looking at the 6,000 degrees C. photosphere that shows the various sunspots on the "surface" of the Sun. Then we transition into the region between the chromosphere and the corona, at about 1 million degrees C. where, in extreme UV light, the active regions appear lighter. We phase in a composite of three different wavelengths showing temperatures up to 2 million degrees C. To top it off, we overlay a science-based estimation of the complex magnetic field lines (partly made visible in the first UV image) extending from and connecting the active regions before going back to the sunspot image. Who says the Sun is boring?
Search Tag(s): 4500, 171, 193, sunspots
Movies
- Mag_combo_best1.mov - mov
- Mag_combo_small1.mov - mov
- Mag_combo_best1.mpg - mpeg
- Mag_combo_small1.mpg - mpeg