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Eruptive Prominence

Oct. 29, 2018
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows that a solar prominence rose up above the Sun's surface, twisted and spun around, then became elongated and broke away. (Oct. 24-25, 2018).

On Oct. 24-25, 2018 a solar prominence rose up above the Sun's surface, twisted and spun around, then became elongated and broke away. Prominences are unstable clouds of cooler plasma suspended above the Sun by strong magnetic forces. They often fall apart after a few days. Although tiny on the scale of the Sun, this prominence stretched out about ten times the diameter of Earth (see inset). Images were taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light.

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PIA18140_Tall_prom_304_big.mp4
PIA18140_Tall_prom_304_sm.mp4

SDO is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Its Atmosphere Imaging Assembly was built by the Lockheed Martin Solar Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), Palo Alto, California.

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