PICK OF THE WEEK
Pick of The Week
Flash on the Limb (Janury 15, 2003)
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A bright, flashing eruption on the edge of the Sun was caught in
extreme ultraviolet light by the EIT 304Å instrument on 12 January
2003. A spectral line of singly-ionized helium at 304 Ångstroms shows
the state of the solar plasma at roughly 60,000 C. The source of the
event was not apparent, and it probably originated from the far side
of the Sun. None of the instruments on SOHO, however, saw any
evidence of a full-fledged coronal mass ejection. So we are left to
conclude that this was, despite its flashy appearance, a relatively
minor event, just a flash in the pan as it were. Even so, this
"small" event still dwarfs the size of the Earth many times over.
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. |
