NASA spots plasma rain on Sun's surface

KTRK logo
Sunday, August 7, 2016
NASA spots plasma rain on Sun
A coronal 'rain' storm on the Sun is actually plasma, a gas in which positively and negatively charged particles have separated.

It's raining plasma on the Sun's surface!

NASA captured this jaw-dropping footage, which shows how a solar flare can cause material to cascade down in big loops -- a phenomenon known as coronal rain.

That 'rain' is actually plasma, a gas in which positively and negatively charged particles have separated.

They then form a super-hot mix that rapidly cools as it falls.

The bright pixels in this video aren't caused by solar flare; rather, they occur when high-energy particles bombard the camera on IRIS, a NASA satellite used to observe the Sun.

Related Topics