SDO Movie Showing Coronal Rain (IMAGE)

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

SDO Movie Showing Coronal Rain

Caption

Coronal rain, like that shown in this movie from NASA's SDO in 2012, is sometimes observed after solar eruptions, when the intense heating associated with a solar flare abruptly cuts off after the eruption and the remaining plasma cools and falls back to the solar surface. Mason was searching for coronal rain not associated with eruptions, but instead caused by a cyclical process of heating and cooling similar to the water cycle on Earth.

Credit

Credits: NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory/Scientific Visualization Studio/Tom Bridgman, Lead Animator

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