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Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Coronal Rain on the Sun
NASA ^ | February 26, 2013 | (see photo credit)

Posted on 02/26/2013 4:02:25 AM PST by SunkenCiv

Explanation: Does it rain on the Sun? Yes, although what falls is not water but extremely hot plasma. An example occurred in mid-July 2012 after an eruption on the Sun that produced both a Coronal Mass Ejection and a moderate solar flare. What was more unusual, however, was what happened next. Plasma in the nearby solar corona was imaged cooling and falling back, a phenomenon known as coronal rain. Because they are electrically charged, electrons, protons, and ions in the rain were gracefully channeled along existing magnetic loops near the Sun's surface, making the scene appear as a surreal three-dimensional sourceless waterfall. The resulting surprisingly-serene spectacle is shown in ultraviolet light and highlights matter glowing at a temperature of about 50,000 Kelvin. Each second in the above time lapse video takes about 6 minutes in real time, so that the entire coronal rain sequence lasted about 10 hours.

February 26, 2013

(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; astronomy; science; sunspots
[Credit: Video Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory, SVS, GSFC, NASA; Music: Thunderbolt by Lars Leonhard]

1 posted on 02/26/2013 4:02:34 AM PST by SunkenCiv
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; brytlea; cripplecreek; decimon; bigheadfred; KoRn; Grammy; married21; ...
Ask Me Anything: APOD Editor to answer questions on reddit at 11 am EST this Thursday

2 posted on 02/26/2013 4:03:48 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; brytlea; cripplecreek; decimon; bigheadfred; KoRn; Grammy; married21; ...
Ask Me Anything: APOD Editor to answer questions on reddit at 11 am EST this Thursday

3 posted on 02/26/2013 4:04:52 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Clicked, watched the whole video. Fascinating.....and quite beautiful.


4 posted on 02/26/2013 4:39:50 AM PST by RightOnline (I am Andrew Breitbart!)
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To: SunkenCiv

Hey SunkenCiv...did I “fall off” your ping list???

Thanks!


5 posted on 02/26/2013 5:23:15 AM PST by The SISU kid (I think they taste like Barbie dolls smell.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Amazing....thanks for posting.


6 posted on 02/26/2013 10:47:05 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
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To: SunkenCiv; cripplecreek

Very nice pic.

But why does that remind me of Wendy O Williams?


7 posted on 02/26/2013 5:07:47 PM PST by bigheadfred
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To: SunkenCiv

Wow. That is like watching a spectacular ballet. I loved the “Earth to scale” segment of the video. It’s a bit scary, really.

Thank you, Mr. Civilizations.


8 posted on 02/26/2013 6:38:12 PM PST by TheOldLady
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To: SunkenCiv
Pardon the oxymoron, but... WAY COOL !!! Thanks !.
9 posted on 02/26/2013 10:32:46 PM PST by ADemocratNoMore (Jeepers, Freepers, where'd 'ya get those sleepers?. Pj people, exposing old media's lies.)
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