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Solar Prominence Unfurls (11 years' of APODs) (04 Oct 2008)

Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 10:38 pm
by neufer

October 4, 2008, A Solar Prominence Unfurls

Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 2:28 am
by waterfeller
Can anyone tell me the time span of the video? Is it several hours? I am guessing that the altitude of the prominence is about 200,000 miles but would also like to know the scale of the image in the video.

Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 12:59 pm
by orin stepanek
Hi Art! Here's another one!

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060710.html

How do you like your eggs? Sunny side up?

Orin

Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 5:26 pm
by orin stepanek

Re: October 4, 2008, A Solar Prominence Unfurls

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 3:20 am
by neufer
waterfeller wrote:Can anyone tell me the time span of the video? Is it several hours? I am guessing that the altitude of the prominence is about 200,000 miles but would also like to know the scale of the image in the video.
Prominence ejecta have solar wind type speeds of ~ 400 km/s:
http://www.britastro.org/jbaa/archive/promin.htm
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    <<The Sun's corona, or extended outer layer, is a region of plasma that is heated to over a million Celsius. As a result of thermal collisions, the particles within the inner corona have a range and distribution of speeds described by a Maxwellian distribution. The mean velocity of these particles is about 145 km/s, which is well below the solar escape velocity of 618 km/s. However, a few of the particles will achieve energies sufficient to reach the terminal velocity of 400 km/s, allowing them to feed the solar wind. At the same temperature, electrons, due to their much smaller mass, obtain escape velocity and build up an electric field which tends to further accelerate ions - charged atoms - away from the Sun.>> - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_wind