Issue of
May 27, 1998

The circular pattern moving outward from the center of this movie is made by seismic waves that were generated by the July 9, 1996 solar flare. This image was taken by the Michelson Doppler Imager on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observer spacecraft. The solar seismic waves were nearly two miles high and extended about 10 Earth-diameters (120,000 kilometers) before disappearing. The flare is the white, feather-shaped object extending outward from the center of the ripple pattern.

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