Astronomy Picture of the Day

Explanation: The Sun is a busy place. This false-color image depicts an active region near an edge of the Sun. Hot plasma is seen exploding off the Sun's photosphere and traveling along loops defined by the Sun's magnetic field. The red regions are particularly hot, indicating that some magnetic field loops carry hotter gas than others. These active loops were so large that the Earth could easily fit under one. The TRACE satellite was launched in April with plans to continue high-resolution imaging as the Sun passes Solar Maximum in the next few years.

太陽是一個忙碌的地方。 這張彩色的假色影像呈現了太陽邊緣附近的一個活躍區。 熾熱的電漿從太陽的光球層噴湧出來，然後沿著太陽磁場聚成的環狀結構泛流。 影像的紅色區特別熾熱，顯示有些磁場環陷住的氣體比其他區更熾熱。 這些活躍的氣體環是如此龐大，輕易可在它的下方塞下數個地球。 TRACE衛星於4月發射，計畫在未來幾年太陽進入太陽極大期時，持續拍攝高解析的太陽影像。