Plasma fountain

A plasma fountain captured by the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer on the Hinode spacecraft. It appears about a third of the way through the video, spurting up from the 60,000 Kelvin plasma in the lower atmosphere. The fountain rises to an altitude of 25,000 kilometres above the surface in just 45 minutes, which is speeded up in this video. Video courtesy of JAXA/NAOJ/NASA/ESA/NSC.

Chromospheric loops

Dynamic plasma fountains are visible on the limb of the Sun in this video taken by the Solar Optical Telescope on Hinode. The fountains are rising up into the lower region of the Sun’s atmosphere, called the chromosphere. As the movie begins, one large fountain just right of centre is erupting, while above it is a prominence swaying in the Sun’s magnetic fields before sinking towards the surface. There are smaller fountains near the surface throughout the video, but you may need to watch it several times to pick them all out. Video courtesy of JAXA/NAOJ/NASA/ESA/NSC.

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Polar jets (left) and equatorial outflow (right)

The image on the left shows a polar jet which emits plasma at temperatures of 2 million Kelvin. The right hand image shows an active region on the Sun, close to an equatorial coronal hole. Looking to the left of centre in the sequence of images, an outflow of plasma speeds out at 10 kilometres per second. Material outflow in regions like this one is thought to be a source of the low-speed solar wind. High-speed solar wind has speeds of 600-800 kilometres per second.

Videos from http://solarb.msfc.nasa.gov/news/movies.html

Learn more about the active Sun in the July issue of Astronomy Now magazine.