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Moss Spreading

Target Name:  Sun
Spacecraft:  TRACE
Produced by:  NASA/GSFC
Copyright: Public Domain
Date Taken:  1 August 1999
Date Released: 14 December 1999

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NameTypeWidth x HeightSize
moss4.jpgJPEG555 x 54254K
moss4.tifTIFF555 x 542221K

This sequence of 4 images shows the rapid formation and spreading of moss following a minor flare event. The blue circle in each image shows the approximate size of the Earth in the field-of-view. Image times are as follows.

1: 20:54 UT t = 0 seconds.
2: 21:01 UT t = 420 seconds.
3: 21:09 UT t = 900 seconds.
4: 21:28 UT t = 2030 seconds.

The bright "front" of moss advancing across the image moves with an average speed of about 17 km/sec (10 miles/sec or about 38,000 miles/hour). The moss forms in response to the spreading of the flare heat in the hot coronal loops above the moss; the loops are not visible in this TRACE 195 Angstrom image series because they are so hot that they radiate in x-rays, which are invisible to the TRACE instrument.

Copyright © 1995-2016 by Calvin J. Hamilton. All rights reserved.