May 31 1998
From The Space Library
NASA's Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) spacecraft captured a video of a "short-lived but extremely bright explosion in the atmosphere of the sun." The explosion was 55,000 miles (89,000 kilometers) long, 200 miles (322 kilometers) wide, and traveled at a rate of 2 million miles (3.2 million kilometers) per hour. The explosions overlapped each other and "SNAPped," releasing "vast amounts of energy" as solar flares. Solar flares cause magnetic disturbances that disrupt satellites and power supplies if directed at Earth. In April, NASA had launched the TRACE spacecraft, with a telescope 10 times more powerful than any other telescope focused on the Sun. The telescope studied the transitional region of the Sun's atmosphere, between the relatively cool surface of the lower atmosphere, with temperatures of 6,000°C (11,000°F), and the corona or upper atmosphere, where temperatures reach 1.7 million°C (35 million°F). The telescope was able to photograph ultraviolet light and to show temperature variations using false colors.
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