14 DAY TRIAL // Astronomers operating the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) have just released this new image of the Sun, pieced together from photos collected between February 8 and February 10. This view shows a very large coronal loop on the solar surface, of the type that can endure for weeks.
Coronal loops are notorious for being very fickle. While they can remain in a particular configuration for weeks, they can also last mere days, or mere hours. Sometimes, they can actually change within a few hours, so solar physicists have no way of predicting how long this particular loop will remain visible for.
SDO captured these images at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths. Coronal loops are usually associated with the closer magnetic field lines that connecting various magnetic regions wandering on the solar surface. The usually develop around sunspots and active solar regions, experts say.
The number of loops present on the Sun has recently increased significantly as opposed to a few years ago, primarily because the star is nearing a peak in its 11-year cycle. Once this happens, the Sun will head for a period of low activity called a minimum, where just a handful of coronal loops will develop.