The Solar Atmosphere

This image of the solar atmosphere at a temperature of about 100,000 degrees was obtained with an ultraviolet spectrometer flown in NASA'S Solar Maximum Mission. In the left-hand image, the false colors show the intensity of light emitted by three-times ionized carbon (C IV) at a wavelength of 1548.15 Å. The large loop over the horizon is maintained by magnetic field lines that join two regions of opposite magnetic polarity in the underlying photosphere. In the right-hand image, the line-of-sight velocity is color coded so that approaching material is shown as blue and receding material is shown as red. SOHO will obtain images like this showing density and velocity fields at many different temperatures.

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