Credit & Copyright: Alan Friedman
(Averted Imagination)
Explanation:
This eerie landscape
of
incandescent plasma suspended in
looping and twisted magnetic fields stretched toward the
Sun's eastern horizon on September 16.
Captured through a backyard telescope
and narrowband filter in light from ionized hydrogen,
the scene reveals a gigantic prominence lofted above the solar limb.
Some 600,000 kilometers across, the magnetized plasma wall would
dwarf worlds of
the Solar System.
Ruling gas giant Jupiter can only boast a diameter of
143,000 kilometers or so, while
planet Earth's diameter is less than 13,000 kilometers.
Known as a hedgerow prominence for its appearance, the enormous
structure is far from stable though, and such large solar
prominences
often erupt.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Sun - prominence
Publications with words: Sun - prominence
See also:
- APOD: 2024 February 19 Á Looking Sideways from the Parker Solar Probe
- Circling the Sun
- APOD: 2023 December 11 Á Solar Minimum versus Solar Maximum
- APOD: 2023 November 19 Á Space Station, Solar Prominences, Sun
- APOD: 2023 October 25 Á Gone in 60 Seconds: A Green Flash Sunset
- Circular Sun Halo
- APOD: 2023 August 1 Á Monster Solar Prominence