Скачать или смотреть A Tearing Seam on the Sun

In this video, we get a glimpse of one of the most powerful events in the Solar System: a solar flare. In the far ultraviolet, solar flares often display long, winding, bright strips of superheated plasma known as "flare ribbons". These features can evolve rapidly and often have the appearance of the Sun ripping open like an overstretched piece of cloth. In reality, these ribbons arise from the solar magnetic field actually "mending" itself as it "tears" apart and then reconnects into a simpler, lower-energy configuration. In this example, we see a flare ribbon develop in the upper portion of the field of view. This ribbon first appears as a single diagonal strip that suddenly flashes into a more complex structure, finally ending with a strange outcropping shaped like an anchor.