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Credit & Copyright: Martin Wise
Explanation:
A solar filament
is an enormous stream of
incandescent plasma suspended above the
active surface of the Sun
by looping magnetic fields.
Seen against the solar disk it looks dark only because it's a little
cooler, and so slightly dimmer, than the
solar
photosphere.
Suspended above the solar limb the same structure looks bright
when viewed against the blackness of space
and is called a solar prominence.
A filaprom would be both of course, a stream of magnetized plasma
that crosses in front of the solar disk and
extends beyond the Sun's edge.
In this
hydrogen-alpha
close-up of
the
Sun captured on June 22,
active region
AR3038 is near the center of the frame.
Active region AR3032 is seen at the far right, close to the
Sun's western
limb.
As AR3032 is carried by
rotation
toward
the Sun's visible edge,
what was once a giant filament above it is now partly seen as a prominence,
How big is AR3032's filaprom?
For scale planet Earth is shown near the top right corner.
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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 September 2 Á A Triangular Prominence Hovers Over the Sun
- APOD: 2024 August 18 Á A Solar Prominence Eruption from SDO
- APOD: 2024 August 4 Á Gaia: Here Comes the Sun
- APOD: 2024 July 28 Á Sun Dance
- Prominences and Filaments on the Active Sun
- APOD: 2024 May 28 Á Solar X Flare as Famous Active Region Returns
- APOD: 2024 May 26 Á A Solar Filament Erupts