 Mystery
Picture: The Sun's magnetic field
Is that our Sun? The unusual banana-shaped loops shown above are actually
part of a computer-generated snap-shot of our
Sun's magnetic
field.
Magnetic field lines loop through the solar atmosphere and
interior to form a complicated web of magnetic structures. Many of these
structures are visible in the chromosphere and corona, the outermost layers of
the Sun's atmosphere. Surfaces of constant
magnetic field
strength (like the "bananas") loop through the
Sun's corona, break
through the Sun's surface, and connect regions of magnetic activity such as
sunspots.
Image Credit: A. Gary
et al. (NASA/MSFC),
NASA
Past mystery pictures:
 Isaac Newton
 The
Sahara Desert
 F/A-18
Hornet breaks the sound barrier
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