A Solar Prominence from SOHO (2009 May 31)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
Post Reply
astrolabe
Science Officer
Posts: 499
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:53 am
Location: Old Orchard Beach, Maine

A Solar Prominence from SOHO (2009 May 31)

Post by astrolabe » Sun May 31, 2009 7:50 pm

Hello All,

I was wondering if solar prominences can be detected visually or otherwise when they are oriented in our direction or can they only be seen exiting or above the Sun's limb generally at the edge.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090531.html
"Everything matters.....So may the facts be with you"-astrolabe

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: A Solar Prominence from SOHO (2009 May 31)

Post by neufer » Sun May 31, 2009 8:14 pm

astrolabe wrote:Hello All,

I was wondering if solar prominences can be detected visually or otherwise when they are oriented in our direction or can they only be seen exiting or above the Sun's limb generally at the edge.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090531.html
You should be able to detect, at least, one visually oriented in our direction in today's APOD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_prominence wrote: If a prominence occurs on the disc of the sun it appears darker than its background (due to the lower temperature of the plasma). These are referred to as solar filaments.
Art Neuendorffer

astrolabe
Science Officer
Posts: 499
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:53 am
Location: Old Orchard Beach, Maine

Re: A Solar Prominence from SOHO (2009 May 31)

Post by astrolabe » Sun May 31, 2009 8:59 pm

Hello neufer,

Thanks for your reply and if that is indeed the case then a prominence of some size appeared to span across several longitudinal meridians ( is that a redundancy? probably!)- NW to SE at around the latitude 45degrees North.
"Everything matters.....So may the facts be with you"-astrolabe

Frenchy
Ensign
Posts: 39
Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 10:55 pm

Re: A Solar Prominence from SOHO (2009 May 31)

Post by Frenchy » Sun May 31, 2009 11:52 pm

Anyone know what the small spherical shadow just a little left of the end of the prominence is?

User avatar
Chris Peterson
Abominable Snowman
Posts: 18573
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:13 pm
Location: Guffey, Colorado, USA
Contact:

Re: A Solar Prominence from SOHO (2009 May 31)

Post by Chris Peterson » Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:58 am

Frenchy wrote:Anyone know what the small spherical shadow just a little left of the end of the prominence is?
Looks like a dust shadow. There's no evidence that the image has been calibrated with either darks or flats.
Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
https://www.cloudbait.com

User avatar
DavidLeodis
Perceptatron
Posts: 1169
Joined: Mon May 01, 2006 1:00 pm

Re: A Solar Prominence from SOHO (2009 May 31)

Post by DavidLeodis » Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:01 am

Despite having seen very many similar images I'm still awestruck at them. That our Sun (which is only a very minor star in cosmic terms) has been burning its contents away for several billion years and should do for several billion more yet is truly amazing. Nature sure is wonderful. It's going to be very dark and cold around where Earth was when the light finally goes out! :)

User avatar
Chris Peterson
Abominable Snowman
Posts: 18573
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:13 pm
Location: Guffey, Colorado, USA
Contact:

Re: A Solar Prominence from SOHO (2009 May 31)

Post by Chris Peterson » Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:23 pm

DavidLeodis wrote:Despite having seen very many similar images I'm still awestruck at them. That our Sun (which is only a very minor star in cosmic terms) has been burning its contents away for several billion years and should do for several billion more yet is truly amazing. Nature sure is wonderful. It's going to be very dark and cold around where Earth was when the light finally goes out!
Will the lights go out if there is nobody to see them? <g>

Just to quibble a bit with semantics, I wouldn't call the Sun a "minor star". It is actually very typical.
Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
https://www.cloudbait.com

kakala
Asternaut
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Jun 03, 2009 1:57 am

Re: A Solar Prominence from SOHO (2009 May 31)

Post by kakala » Wed Jun 03, 2009 2:35 am

A solar prominence is a cloud of solar gas held above the Sun’s surface by the Sun’s magnetic field. In 2004, NASA’s Sun-orbiting SOHO spacecraft imaged an impressively large prominence hovering over the surface, pictured above. The Earth would easily fit under the hovering curtain of hot gas.

Post Reply