                  APOD: 2018 May 27 - Coronal Rain on the Sun

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                  2018 May 27
                           Coronal Rain on the Sun
Video Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory [2] , SVS [3] , GSFC [4] , NASA [5] ;
                   Music:  Thunderbolt by Lars Leonhard [6]

Explanation: Does it rain on the Sun [7] ? Yes, although what falls is not
water but extremely hot plasma [8] . An example occurred [9] in mid-July 2012
after an eruption on the Sun that produced both a Coronal Mass Ejection [10]
and a moderate solar flare [11] . What was more unusual, however, was what
happened next. Plasma in the nearby solar corona [12] was imaged cooling and
falling back, a phenomenon known as coronal rain [13] . Because they are
electrically charged, electrons [14] , protons [15] , and ions [16]  in the
rain were gracefully channeled along existing magnetic loops [17]  near the
Sun's surface, making the scene appear as a surreal three-dimensional
sourceless waterfall. The resulting surprisingly-serene spectacle [18]  is
shown in ultraviolet light [19] and highlights matter glowing at a temperature
of about 50,000 Kelvin [20] . Each second in the featured time lapse video
[21] takes about 6 minutes in real time, so that the entire coronal rain
sequence [22]  lasted about 10 hours. Recent observations [23]  have confirmed
that that coronal rain can also occur in smaller loops for as long as 30
hours.

                  Tomorrow's picture: infrared pleiades [24]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
< [25] | Archive [26] | Submissions [27] | Index [28] | Search [29] | Calendar
  [30] | RSS [31] | Education [32] | About APOD [33] | Discuss [34] | > [35]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [36] (MTU [37] ) & Jerry Bonnell [38]
                                  (UMCP [39] )
          NASA Official:  Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [40] .
              NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [41]
              A service of: ASD [42]  at NASA [43]  / GSFC [44]
                           & Michigan Tech. U. [45]
----------
Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [3] https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [4] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html
  [5] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [6] http://www.lars-leonhard.de/
  [7] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/in-depth/
  [8] https://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/wplasma.html
  [9] https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/news/coronal-rain.html
  [10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_mass_ejection
  [11] ap031029.html
  [12] ap180430.html
  [13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_Rain
  [14] http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/whelect.html
  [15] http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/proton.html
  [16] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion
  [17] ap050814.html
  [18]
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/02/21/
coronal_rain_streams_of_ionized_gas_rain_on_sun_after_a_solar_flare.html
  [19] https://science.nasa.gov/ems/10_ultravioletwaves
  [20] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin
  [21] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ghaf2du-XM
  [22] http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a004000/a004026/
  [23]
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/
plasma-rain-sun-atmosphere-falls-surprising-places
  [24] ap180528.html
  [25] ap180526.html
  [26] archivepix.html
  [27] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [28] lib/aptree.html
  [29] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [30] calendar/allyears.html
  [31] /apod.rss
  [32] lib/edlinks.html
  [33] lib/about_apod.html
  [34] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=180527
  [35] ap180528.html
  [36] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [37] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [38] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [39] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [40] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [41] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [42] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [43] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [44] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [45] http://www.mtu.edu/
