On-disk coronal rain                                   

Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope

Active region 10998 was observed on June 10, 2008 with the CRISP instrument at the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope. Scans of the Halpha spectral line were taken to monitor the solar atmosphere from the photosphere (using the line wing) to the upper chromosphere (using the line core).

The movie first shows the upper chromospheric layers of the active region. The scene is dominated by dynamic fibrils rooted in the pores and the active region plage surrounding them. The image then transitions to the red wing of the Halpha line, progressively sampling lower atmospheric layers. At 0.8 nm from the line center we observe the photoshere in the background and dark chromospheric fibrils showing large Doppler shifts to the red (produced by motions away from the observer). At this wavelength, the movie reveals the existence of small and elongated, cool and dense blob-like structures that fall toward the solar surface from chromospheric heights. These blobs are believed to represent on-disk counterparts of coronal rain.

To download the movie, click HERE

Movie credit: Patrick Antolin (ITA, University of Oslo)

Observations: Mats Carlsson, Viggo Hansteen, Jorrit Leenaarts, Ada Ortiz, Sven Wedemeyer (ITA, University of Oslo)

Publication: Antolin et al. 2012, Sol. Phys. 280, 457