Coronal loop in the Sun's atmosphere

3D ModelNoAI

The outer atmosphere of the Sun, the corona, is characterized by temperatures above few million degrees. The hot coronal plasma is mostly confined in huge loops of magnetic field beginning and ending on the solar photosphere. These magnetic loops are the building blocks of the solar corona. The model shows one of this loop (red-yellow arch in the scene) which is heated up to temperatures of 3-4 million degrees due to energy release at the loop footpoints. The energy release determines a progressive dissipation of the magnetic field (described by the green lines), through the local reconnection of sheared field lines. The loop extends above the solar surface for thousands of kilometers; for comparison, a sphere representing the Earth in the same scale is located in proximity of the loop.

Reference: Reale et al. 2016, ApJ 830, id. 21.

Credits: INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo. The Milky Way image is from ESO/S. Brunier.