Pencil Jet
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On the 7th of March 2008, XRT observed the coronal hole located around the south
pole of the Sun. There, the magnetic configuration is strikingly different than
the usual complex structure seen in coronal active
regions: instead of an entangled jumble of loops, most of the magnetic field
lines are nicely ordered, shooting straightly away from the Sun. These are
called open field lines (though at some point they will bend and come
back to the Sun). In the coronal hole, some small loops (or closed field
lines) are visible in the image.
An X-ray jet is created when a small loop interacts with one of the open field
lines, releasing a stream of solar matter propagating along the open field
line. In the image, the jet is seen as a very thin and straight pencil beam.
Keywords: Jet, Pole |
(prepared by P. Grigis)
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