Three NASA Missions Observed a Current Sheet Form (IMAGE)

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Three NASA Missions Observed a Current Sheet Form

Caption

During a December 2013 solar flare, three NASA missions observed a current sheet form -- a strong clue for explaining what initiates the flares. This animation shows four views of the flare from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory, and JAXA/NASA's Hinode, allowing scientists to make unprecedented measurements of its characteristics. The current sheet is a long, thin structure, especially visible in the views on the left. Those two animations depict light emitted by material with higher temperatures, so they better show the extremely hot current sheet.

Credit

Credits: NASA/JAXA/SDO/STEREO/Hinode (courtesy Zhu, et al.)

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