This is a combined image of gas at one million Kelvin, shown in blue (made by TRACE) and gas at three to five million Kelvin, shown in yellow (made by SXT). Can you see that the ends of the loops tend to be brightest in blue, showing that they are at one million Kelvin, but the middles of the loops are bright in yellow, and are therefore hotter! Also, some loops (like the ones at the right) don't show up in yellow at all.

Another thing to notice is that the blue TRACE image shows much more detail than the yellow SXT image - TRACE loops look much less fuzzy! This is not because the loops really are less fuzzy, but because TRACE has a more powerful telescope. Without doubt, if we had such a powerful telescope on SXT, the yellow parts of the loop would be just as clear.

Image courtesy of the TRACE and SXT teams at Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Lab.

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