A Solar Prominence from SOHO
Explanation:
What happened to the Sun?
Nothing very unusual: the strange-looking
solar appendage on the lower
left is actually just a spectacular looking version of a common
solar prominence.
A
solar prominence is a cloud of solar gas held above the
Sun's surface by the Sun's
magnetic field.
Pictured above in 2002 October, NASA's Sun-orbiting
SOHO spacecraft imaged an
impressively large prominence
hovering over the surface, informally dubbed a flame.
Over 40
Earths could line up along the vast length of the
fireless flame of hovering
hot gas.
A quiescent
prominence typically lasts about a month, and may erupt in a
Coronal Mass Ejection (CME)
expelling hot gas into the
Solar System.
Although somehow related to the Sun's changing
magnetic field, the energy mechanism that creates and sustains a
Solar prominence is still a topic of
research.
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.
