NASA - Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) patch.
June 19, 2015
The sun, as seen by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, on June 17, 2015, shows the remains of the two solar filaments that appeared to form an arrow, have survived transitioning around the sun, but the sharpness of the shape has degraded since they were first observed on May 28, 2015. Image Credit: NASA/SDO.
Sun Says "Keep Right"
Is the sun trying to send a message? A pair of giant filaments on the face of the sun have formed what appears to be an enormous arrow pointing to the right. If straightened out, each filament would be about as long as the sun’s diameter, 1 million miles long.
Filaments are cooler clouds of solar material suspended above the sun's surface by powerful magnetic forces. Filaments can float for days without much change, though they can also erupt, releasing solar material in a shower that either rains back down or escapes out into space, becoming a moving cloud known as a coronal mass ejection, or CME.
This image was taken on May 28, 2015, in combined wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which observes the sun 24 hours a day. Image Credit: NASA/SDO.
For more information about Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/main/index.html
Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Holly Zell.
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