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Flare and Field Line Coiling Up Close 

Watch a close-up of a flare and the resulting magnetic coils of loops in a combination of three extreme ultraviolet wavelengths of light as an active region reorganizes itself over nine hours (Oct. 22, 2011). It's interesting to note the dark "blobs" falling downward into the flare from above. Remember, these are NOT dense blobs of cool matter--they're actually voids in plasma: planet-sized bubbles of low density, moving through the 15 million-degree plasma.
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