Double Eruptive Prominences
Explanation:
Lofted over
the Sun
on looping magnetic fields, large
solar prominences are composed of relatively cool, dense
plasma.
When seen against the brilliant solar disk they
appear
as dark filaments,
but these enormous
magnetic
structures
are bright themselves when viewed against the blackness of space
as they arc above the Sun's edge
In a
rare visual treat,
these two solar prominences arising
from the Sun's southern (lower) hemisphere were
captured in extreme ultraviolet light by the EIT camera on board
the space-based
SOlar
and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) on March 21.
For
scale, the pair of plasma loops stretch above the
Sun to a height of about twenty times the diameter of
planet Earth.
In a matter of hours, these prominences apparently
erupted
away from the Sun's surface and may have been associated
with a flare and
coronal mass ejection.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
