by APOD Robot » Tue Feb 10, 2015 5:08 am
An Extremely Long Filament on the Sun
Explanation: Yesterday, the Sun exhibited one of the longest filaments ever recorded. It may still be there today. Visible as the dark streak just below the center in the featured image, the enormous filament extended across the face of the Sun a distance
even longer than the Sun's radius -- over 700,000 kilometers. A filament is actually
hot gas held aloft by the Sun's magnetic field, so that viewed from the side it would appear as a
raised prominence. The
featured image shows the filament in
light emitted by hydrogen and therefore highlights the
Sun's chromosphere. Sun-following telescopes including NASA's
Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) are tracking
this unusual feature, with SDO yesterday recording a
spiraling magnetic field engulfing it. Since
filaments typically last only from hours to days, parts of this one may
collapse or
erupt at any time, either returning hot plasma back to the Sun or
expelling it into the Solar System. Is the filament still there? You can check by clicking on
SDO's current solar image.
[/b]
[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150210.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_150210.jpg[/img] [size=150]An Extremely Long Filament on the Sun[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] Yesterday, the Sun exhibited one of the longest filaments ever recorded. It may still be there today. Visible as the dark streak just below the center in the featured image, the enormous filament extended across the face of the Sun a distance [url=http://www.universetoday.com/96649/huge-solar-filament-stretches-across-the-sun/]even longer[/url] than the Sun's radius -- over 700,000 kilometers. A filament is actually [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120820.html]hot gas held aloft[/url] by the Sun's magnetic field, so that viewed from the side it would appear as a [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140304.html]raised prominence[/url]. The [url=http://soleilhalpha.free.fr/soleil/2015/soleil_9fev_12h32tu_70.jpg]featured image[/url] shows the filament in [url=http://www.astronomyknowhow.com/hydrogen-alpha.htm]light emitted by hydrogen[/url] and therefore highlights the [url=http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/chromos.shtml]Sun's chromosphere[/url]. Sun-following telescopes including NASA's [url=http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/mission/]Solar Dynamics Observatory[/url] (SDO) are tracking [url=http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=09&month=02&year=2015]this unusual feature[/url], with SDO yesterday recording a [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/%20image/1502/sunfield_sdo_960.jpg]spiraling magnetic field[/url] engulfing it. Since [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_prominence]filaments[/url] typically last only from hours to days, parts of this one may [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101215.html]collapse[/url] or [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyIxC1nJPQ0]erupt[/url] at any time, either returning hot plasma back to the Sun or [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110307.html]expelling it[/url] into the Solar System. Is the filament still there? You can check by clicking on [url=http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/latest/latest_1024_0304.jpg]SDO's current solar image[/url].
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