#photographer #pictures #special #plasma #loops #solar #flare #Astronomy
The Sun is approaching the peak of its 11-year cycle, which is why powerful solar flares occur more and more frequently. The most recent one occurred on January 29, a powerful M-class solar flare of magnitude 6.8, after which special plasma loops were formed on the surface of the Sun.
Astrophotographer Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau took a fascinating picture of the faint plasma loops, of which scientists still do not know exactly how they are formed. According to a 2005 study, such plasma loops most often appear after M- and X-class flares and often reach altitudes of 50,000 kilometers.
The structures are much fainter than the bulges that appear before the solar flare because they contain smaller amounts of plasma, which are much cooler and therefore emit less light. Because of this, very few pictures of plasma loops have been taken in such detail, but astrophotographer Poupeau was very fond of them. According to Spaceweather.com, due to increased solar activity, there will be many more plasma loops in the coming years, which may shed light on exactly how they form.
