An Active Region of the Sun
The Sun is a busy place.
This false-color image depicts an active region
near an edge of the
Sun.
Hot plasma is seen exploding off the Sun's photosphere and traveling along loops
defined by the Sun's magnetic field.
The red regions are particularly hot,
indicating that some magnetic field loops
carry hotter gas than others.
These active loops were so large that the Earth could easily fit under one. The TRACE satellite was launched in
April with plans to continue high-resolution imaging as the
Sun passes
Solar Maximum in the next few years.