A Prominent Solar Prominence from SOHO
One of the most spectacular solar sights is a prominence.
A solar prominence is a cloud of solar gas held above the
Sun's surface by the Sun's
magnetic field.
Last month, NASA's Sun-orbiting
SOHO spacecraft imaged an
impressively large prominence
hovering over the surface,
pictured above.
The Earth would easily fit under the hovering
curtain of 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.