Filament Uprising (February 24, 2012)

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Part of an elongated filament became unstable and erupted near the Sun's north pole (Feb. 19, 2012) as seen by the STEREO (Ahead) spacecraft in extreme UV light. Filaments are cooler clouds of gases that are suspended above the Sun’s surface by magnetic forces. They commonly erupt and disappear into space. Note that the remainder of the filament (stretching to the right) seems to remain unaffected by this eruption.

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.