New imagery of the sun is revealing the complex dynamics of its surface and corona. Here, an image of the solar chromosphere showing a "hedgerow" of spicules, or jets of dense plasma that shoot up from the chromosphere. Scientists think that certain types of spicules may help explain why the sun's atmosphere is so hot.

Credit: Scott McIntosh, Bart De Pontieu, Viggo Hansteen and Karel Schrijver/UCAR. Permission granted for non-commercial, non-profit research or educational purposes only. Contact UCAR for permissions regarding additional use.

The limb chromosphere in all its glory. As seen by the Broadband Filter Imager of the Hinode Solar Optical Telescope on Nov. 22, 2006, this sequence (taken with a Ca II filter) shows the plasma in the sun's lower atmosphere at temperatures between 10,000 and 20,000 degrees Kelvin. The jets coming out of the solar surface are rooted in strong magnetic fields and are called spicules. With some careful detective work, two types of spicules can be discerned. Can you tell the difference?

Credit: Scott McIntosh, Bart De Pontieu, Viggo Hansteen and Karel Schrijver/UCAR. Permission granted for non-commercial, non-profit research or educational purposes only. Contact UCAR for permissions regarding additional use.

In video taken by the NASA STEREO A spacecraft of the north polar region of the sun on Feb. 12, 2009, we see the projection of the faint mass-loading/heating outflows against the darker corona of a "coronal hole," the source of the fast solar wind.

Credit: Scott McIntosh, Bart De Pontieu, Viggo Hansteen and Karel Schrijver/UCAR. Permission granted for non-commercial, non-profit research or educational purposes only. Contact UCAR for permissions regarding additional use.

Enhanced by a spatial differencing technique, this movie of the north polar region (see movie 1) "removes" the larger, longer-lived structures to show only those that are small, dynamic and likely associated with chromospheric activity.

Credit: Scott McIntosh, Bart De Pontieu, Viggo Hansteen and Karel Schrijver/UCAR. Permission granted for non-commercial, non-profit research or educational purposes only. Contact UCAR for permissions regarding additional use.

In video taken by the NASA STEREO B spacecraft on Feb. 12 2009, we see the continuous, quasi-periodic, outflows in the active region that are rooted in Type-II chromospheric spicules. In this case, we see that, even though the active region erupts, the outflows do not stop.

Credit: Scott McIntosh, Bart De Pontieu, Viggo Hansteen and Karel Schrijver/UCAR. Permission granted for non-commercial, non-profit research or educational purposes only. Contact UCAR for permissions regarding additional use.

A schematic diagram of the cycle of mass in the solar atmosphere. High speed upflows seen in the magnetic upper chromosphere as Type-II spicules get thrust into the corona; this material is visible at a wide range of temperatures, and some of it becomes entrained in the coronal magnetic field. Later, this material falls out along the same magnetic field lines, most likely as a phenomena called "coronal rain."

Credit: Scott McIntosh, Bart De Pontieu, Viggo Hansteen and Karel Schrijver/UCAR. Permission granted for non-commercial, non-profit research or educational purposes only. Contact UCAR for permissions regarding additional use.