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Credit & Copyright: STEREO Project,
NASA
Explanation:
What's happened to our Sun?
Last week, it produced one of the most power eruptive prominences ever seen.
Pictured above,
the prominence erupted in only a few hours and was
captured in movie form by
NASA's twin Sun-orbiting
STEREO satellites.
A quiescent solar prominence is a cloud of hot
solar gas held above the Sun's surface by the Sun's
magnetic field.
Unpredictably, however, prominences may erupt,
expelling hot gas into the
Solar System via a
Coronal Mass Ejection (CME).
As pictured above, many Earths would easily fit under the expanding
ribbon of hot gas.
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.
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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