{"id":65286,"date":"2026-09-03T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/?guid=b7a2dddc8d392450e44ae90680a74fee"},"modified":"2026-09-03T14:32:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T14:32:03","slug":"mesmerizing-plasma-loops-on-the-sun-space-photo-of-the-day-for-sept-3-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/2026\/09\/03\/mesmerizing-plasma-loops-on-the-sun-space-photo-of-the-day-for-sept-3-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Mesmerizing plasma loops on the sun | Space photo of the day for Sept. 3, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n                            \n                            <article>\n                                <figure class=\"van-image-figure  inline-layout\" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style=\"max-width:1699px;\"><p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.27%;\"><img id=\"PsBPz36HRiCqCfZS7pH39e\" name=\"image_Iod_Sept_3_MarkJohnston\" alt=\"close up view of the sun showing large filament like structure fanning out from the sun and reaching up, with the plasma then falling back to the sun.\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/PsBPz36HRiCqCfZS7pH39e.jpg\" mos=\"\" align=\"middle\" fullscreen=\"1\" width=\"1699\" height=\"956\" attribution=\"\" endorsement=\"\" class=\"inline expandable\"><a href='https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/PsBPz36HRiCqCfZS7pH39e.jpg'  class='expand-button icon-expand-image icon' ><\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div><figcaption itemprop=\"caption description\" class=\" inline-layout\"><span class=\"caption-text\">Astrophotographer Mark Johnston captured the sun in remarkable detail from his backyard in Arizona. <\/span><span class=\"credit\" itemprop=\"copyrightHolder\">(Image credit: Mark Johnston)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><p>A spectacular series of glowing plasma loops arcs above the sun in this remarkable view captured from an astrophotographer's backyard. <\/p><h2 id=\"what-is-it\">What is it? <\/h2><p>This image is a still from a high-resolution timelapse captured by astrophotographer Mark Johnston from Scottsdale, Arizona on Aug. 21, 2026. <\/p><p>The footage shows a coronal loop arcade \u2014 a series of arching loops of hot plasma shaped by the sun's magnetic field \u2014 extending high above the solar limb, or apparent edge of the sun. <\/p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/content.jwplatform.com\/players\/RCU0lHUy.html\" id=\"RCU0lHUy\" title=\"Mesmerizing Solar Plasma Rain Captured in Stunning Detail\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><p>Johnston recorded the scene for more than two hours, from 7:56 a.m. to 10:12 a.m. local time. His footage reveals the movement of plasma within the loops, including 'coronal rain' as material cools and falls back towards the lower solar atmosphere along magnetic field lines. <\/p><p>The sequence was captured using a TEC160FL refractor equipped with specialized hydrogen-alpha (H-alpha) solar imaging equipment, which helps reveal structures in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/17160-sun-atmosphere.html\"><u>sun's atmosphere<\/u><\/a> that would otherwise be very difficult to see. <\/p><h2 id=\"why-is-it-incredible\">Why is it incredible? <\/h2><p>Coronal loop arcades like this one are a rare sight, but Johnston was particularly lucky to catch this one almost side-on at the edge of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/58-the-sun-formation-facts-and-characteristics.html\"><u>the sun<\/u><\/a>, revealing the dramatic arching shape in exquisite detail. <\/p><p>\"To see one AND catch it right on the limb AND have it happen on a clear day when I'm home and able to catch it was a real treat,\" Johnston told Space.com in an email. <\/p><p>Lucky for us, Johnston keeps a close eye on our star. The first thing he does each morning is check real-time imagery from NASA's <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/22081-solar-dynamics-observatory.html\"><u>Solar Dynamics Observatory<\/u><\/a> (SDO) to see what the sun is up to. <\/p><p>\"One day I saw this and leapt out of bed and dashed to get set up to capture it,\" Johnston said. <\/p><p>And this isn't the first spectacular solar show Johnston has captured from his backyard. Back in June, he imaged a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/stargazing\/astrophotographer-captures-colossal-godzilla-plasma-cloud-stalking-the-edge-of-the-sun-video\"><u>colossal 'Godzilla' plasma cloud<\/u><\/a> seemingly stalking the edge of the sun, complete with streams of coronal rains cascading back towards the solar surface. <\/p>\n                                                            <\/article>\n                            \n                        ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;To see one AND catch it right on the limb AND have it happen on a clear day when I&#8217;m home and able to catch it was a real treat.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":591,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2894,2794],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astrophotography","category-stargazing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65286"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/591"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65286"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65575,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65286\/revisions\/65575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}