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Encyclopedia > Solar prominence
Filaments surrounding a solar flare, caused by the interaction of the plasma in the Sun's atmosphere with its magnetic field.
Filaments surrounding a solar flare, caused by the interaction of the plasma in the Sun's atmosphere with its magnetic field. [1]

A solar prominence is a large bright feature jetting out from sunspots on the sun's surface. Prominences are located in the solar corona. While the corona consists of extremely hot ionized gases, known as plasma, which do not emit much visible light, prominences contain much cooler plasma, similar in composition to that of the chromosphere. A prominence forms over timescales of about a day, and may persist in the corona for several weeks. Many prominences break apart and give rise to coronal mass ejections. Image File history File links Solar-filament. ... Image File history File links Solar-filament. ... A plasma lamp, illustrating some of the more complex phenomena of a plasma, including filamentation. ... In astronomy, a corona is the luminous plasma atmosphere of the Sun or other celestial body, extending millions of kilometres into space, most easily seen during a total solar eclipse, but also observable in a coronagraph. ... ... A gas is one of the four major phases of matter (after solid and liquid, and followed by plasma, that subsequently appear as a solid material is subjected to increasingly higher temperatures. ... A plasma lamp, illustrating some of the more complex phenomena of a plasma, including filamentation. ... The chromosphere (literally, color sphere) is a thin layer of the Suns atmosphere just above the photosphere, roughly 10,000 kilometers deep. ... A composite image showing two CMEs (at 2 oclock and 8 oclock), with the sun at center. ...


Despite decades of study, the mechanism by which prominences form is not yet well understood. Theories have not satisfactorily explained how prominences can remain stable for such a long time when they are much denser than their surroundings. Magnetic fields are known to be the dominant influence on gas motions within the corona, but the exact form of magnetic interaction required to produce and maintain a large prominence has yet to be determined. Current (I) flowing through a wire produces a magnetic field () around the wire. ...


A typical prominence extends over many thousands of kilometres; the largest observed by SOHO was seen in 1997 and was some 350,000 km (216,000 miles) long [2] - some 28 times the diameter of the Earth. The mass contained within a prominence is typically of the order of 100 billion tonnes of material. Adjectives: Terrestrial, Terran, Telluric, Tellurian, Earthly Atmosphere Surface pressure: 101. ...


References

  1. ^ A Solar Filament Lifts Off. Retrieved on 2006-06-12.
  2. ^ EIT gallery. Retrieved on 2005-10-15.
  1. Galsgaard, K.; Longbottom, A.W. (1999). "Formation of solar prominences by flux convergence". Astrophysical Journal 510: 444. 
  2. Low, B.C.; Fong, B.; Fan, Y. (2003). "The mass of a solar quiescent prominence". Astrophysical Journal 594: 1060. 
  3. Golub, L.; Pasachoff J.M. (1997). The Solar Corona. Cambridge University Press. 
The Sun
v • d • e
Image:Sun picture.png
Structure: Solar Core - Radiation Zone - Convection Zone
Atmosphere - Photosphere - Chromosphere - Transition region - Corona
Extended Structure: Termination Shock - Heliosphere - Heliopause - Heliosheath - Bow Shock
Solar Phenomena: Sunspots - Faculae - Granules - Supergranulation - Solar Wind - Spicules
Coronal loops - Solar Flares - Solar Prominences - Coronal Mass Ejections
Moreton Waves - Coronal Holes
Other: Solar System - Solar Variation - Solar Dynamo - Heliospheric Current Sheet - Solar Radiation - Solar Eclipse

  Results from FactBites:
 
Prominences and Plages (360 words)
Prominences and plages are structures that occur above the photosphere of the Sun.
Quiescent prominences are extremely stable features and remain suspended in the corona where they slowly evolve and become more elongated over the course of several solar rotations (a timescale of a few months).
Prominences are usually associated with regions of sunspot activity, and are clearly associated with the Sun's magnetic field.
Laboratory simulation of solar prominences (206 words)
Solar prominences are large arch-shaped structures observable in the solar corona.
The physics of solar prominence instability is believed to be governed by magnetic forces and magnetic helicity issues.
This laboratory simulation of solar prominences is based on the premise that the physics of erupting solar prominences is analogous to the physics of the formation of laboratory spheromaks.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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