TRACE's View of AR 9169

A quiet day on the Sun. No spectacular flares or mass ejections, no odd filaments moving, and nevertheless the image of AR 9169, with the much smaller AR 9167 just ahead of it, is very pretty.

This image was taken with TRACE in the 171 angstrom ultraviolet light, showing the bright emission of the gas at about 1 million degrees, with the cooler material around 10,000 degrees showing up as dark, absorbing structures.

Retired (June 21, 2010) NASA mission Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) took this photograph in Sept. 2000. Credit: NASA/TRACE