Featured Image: A Filament Forms and Erupts

This dynamic image of active region NOAA 12241 was captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory’s Atmospheric Imaging Assembly in December 2014. Observations of this region from a number of observatories and instruments — recently presented by Jincheng Wang (University of Chinese Academy of Sciences) and collaborators — reveal details about the formation and eruption of a long solar filament. Wang and collaborators show that the right part of the filament formed by magnetic reconnection between two bundles of magnetic field lines, while the left part formed as a result of shearing motion. When these two parts interacted, the filament erupted. You can read more about the team’s results in the article linked below. Also, check out this awesome video of the filament formation and eruption, again by SDO/AIA:

Citation

Jincheng Wang et al 2017 ApJ 839 128. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aa6bf3