29 March 2024 - Mission Day: 10346 - DOY: 089
Pick of The Week
 
 

Arcing Eruptive Prominence (March 18, 2004)


Hi-res TIF image (4.6M)

The Sun ejected a spectacular "eruptive prominence," a mass of relatively cool plasma, into space on Friday, March 12. The gas was relatively cool - only 60,000-80,000 Kelvin (110,000 - 145,000 degrees F) compared with the fiery 1.5 million degree K plasma (2.7 million F) surrounding it in the Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona.

At the time of this snapshot, the eruptive prominence was over 700,000 km (430,000 miles across), over 50 times the Earth's diameter. That's like measuring the length of 50 Earth's standing side-by-side! Even more, the plasma was moving at a rate of over 75,000 km per hour (45,000 mph).

Eruptive prominences of this size are associated with coronal mass ejections (CME's), and the CME-prominence combination can deliver a powerful one-two punch to the earth's magnetosphere when directed toward Earth. In this case, the prominence and associated coronal mass ejection were directed away from the Earth and out into space.

Please visit our Newsroom for press releases and media coverage.

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.

\
 
 

• European Site • US Site

 

Feedback & Comments: SOHO Webmaster

Last modification: July 27, 2020

SOHO
and
SOHO
SOHO is a project of international cooperation between