This is an image of a group of loops at the edge (limb) of the sun. The loops fan out because the magnetic field fills all the space it can. Loops of many different sizes and brightnesses are present in the same group. The width of a typical loop that you can see is about 1500km, but in fact they are probably even narrower - but we'd need a better telescope to see that!

Courtesy of the TRACE team at Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Lab.

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