This photo depicts a "quiet" day on the Sun. But even during off days, the Sun's surface is a busy place. This photo is in ultraviolet light, and the relatively cool dark regions have temperatures of thousands of degrees Celsius.The bright area visible near the horizon is the large sunspot group AR 9169 from the last solar cycle. The bright glowing gas flowing around the sunspots has a temperature of over one million degrees Celsius. The reason for the high temperature is unknown but thought to be related to the rapidly changing magnetic field loops that channel solar plasma. Large sunspot group AR 9169 moved across the Sun during 2000 September and decayed in a few weeks.
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