Solar prominences | ||||
Filaments of solar matter | Automatic translation | Updated June 01, 2013 | ||
Solar prominences are filaments of solar matter, projected above its surface, which characterize the activity of the Sun. | ||||
Coronal mass ejections (CME) | ||||
The sun continually produces 380 billion billion megawatts, 3.826 × 1026 W and it for billions of years. The most spectacular events in times of intense magnetic activity, are the appearance of sunspots and prominences. | A solar prominence is a cloud of gas ejected from the solar surface, supported by a loop of magnetic field. Although very hot, prominences are slightly colder than the surface. Image: The prominences are coronal mass ejections (CME). Every second, 564 million tons of hydrogen to produce fusion come into 560 million tons of helium, the 4 million tons lost, are converted into energy. | |||
Spicule giant March 30, 2010 | ||||
On March 30, 2010, the Sun has produced one of the largest eruptive prominences, never observed. It has appeared in just a few hours and could be filmed with the two STEREO satellites from NASA. Unpredictable, prominences expel hot gases in the solar system via a coronal mass ejection (CME). This image of our star, unreal appearance, was taken in April 2010 with the recent commissioning of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). This composite view, false color, shows the wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet and traces of hot plasma at a temperature close to a million degrees Kelvin. The image data expose the solar activity, with unprecedented detail. In fact, SDO sends 1.5 terabytes of data each day, equivalent to a daily download of about half a million MP3 songs. The SDO data also include a film, high resolution views eruptive along the solar limb. | The Sun's surface is dotted with hot granules generated by convection. The granules are rising columns of hot plasma and the dark parts are the columns down, cooled. However, the high resolution view shows that the dark parts are dotted with numerous small bright spots. These bright spots on the surface, does not appear to be sunspot, related magnetic cycle. However, bright spots are areas of concentration, magnetic fields, they are bright because the magnetic pressure, opens a window to the warm layers deeper below the photosphere. Image: image of a solar spicule, visible here in the upper left, taken March 30, 2010 where we see the Sun, producing one of the largest ever observed eruptive prominences. Credit: NASA / Goddard / SDO AIA Team. |