Over a one-day period (September 28, 2006) a small solar prominence rose up and expanded into a twisted, curled plume before disappearing into space. Often, a prominence will appear in one frame and be gone before another frame is taken, usually six hours later. But in this instance it stayed around long enough to get four frames of motion before breaking away.

The still image shows the prominence at its most extended moment. Prominences are cooler clouds of gases suspended above the surface of the Sun by magnetic forces. STEREO, due for launch on October 25, will give us two views of such events at much better (~ 10 minute) time resolution, in multiple wavelengths.

Previous Picks of the Week

SOHO began its Weekly Pick some time after sending a weekly image or video clip to the American Museum of Natural History (Rose Center) in New York City. There, the SOHO Weekly Pick is displayed with some annotations on a large plasma display.

If your institution would also like to receive the same Weekly Pick from us for display (usually in Photoshop or QuickTime format), please send your inquiry to steele.hill@gsfc.nasa.gov.