Lower Regions of the Sun's Atmosphere: The Interface Region (IMAGE)

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Lower Regions of the Sun's Atmosphere: The Interface Region

Caption

This image from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hinode mission shows the lower regions of the sun's atmosphere, the interface region, which a new mission called the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, will study in exquisite detail. Where previous missions have been able to image material at only a few predetermined temperatures in this region, IRIS will observe a wide range of temperatures from 5,000 kelvins to 65,000 kelvins (8,540 F to 116,540 F), and up to 10 million kelvins (about 18 million F) during solar flares. Its images will resolve structures down to 150 miles across.

Credit

JAXA/Hinode

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