One of many IRIS views in different wavelengths of a specific region of the sun, resulted in showing a series of loops twisting in the sun’s lower atmosphere, generating mini-tornadoes on the sun's surface.
This screen capture from a video shows NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph’s, or IRIS’, view of an area of the sun. Multiple images of this area were taken in different wavelengths. Each of the images carried information about how fast the solar material is moving, which has shown scientists that a series of loops are twisting in the sun’s lower atmosphere, generating mini-tornadoes on the sun’s surface. This result is from one of five papers, based on IRIS data, highlighting different aspects of solar energy’s journey from the sun’s surface through its atmosphere in the Oct. 17, 2014, issue of Science magazine.
Credit: NASA/IRIS/Pereira
