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2009 January 01


(Click image to view movie.)

New Year's Transient Sigmoid (movie)
Over the New Year holiday, XRT observed the Sun with its widest field of view, and monitored the development of the small active region shown here. During the interval, the region produced a few small eruptions, casting material into the heliosphere. On New Year's Day, coronal loops in the core of the active region brightened up, and for a short time had the "S" shape that we call a coronal sigmoid. This is an example of a transient sigmoid, as opposed to the long-lasting sigmoids which can hold their appearance for several days. Look closer, and you'll even see that this sigmoid's S looks like two J's facing each other. [filter is thin-Be; exposure is 23 s]


Keywords: Sigmoid
Filters: Be_thin


(Prepared by D. McKenzie)

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