Gallery

Pop-Pop-Popping Off
Pop-Pop-Popping Off
Pop-Pop-Popping Off An active region spurted off at least half a dozen solar flares and numerous other small bursts of plasma over about 36 hours (Apr. 29 - May 1, 2012). The bright active region, viewed in extreme ultraviolet light by Solar Dynamics Observatory, must have had a tangled magnetic field for it to erupt so frequently. None of the flares were major, but they made for a nifty movie.