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Large Eruptive Prominence Imaged by SDO

Explanation: Sometimes part of the Sun can just explode into space. These explosions might occur as powerful solar flares, coronal mass ejections, or comparatively tame eruptive solar prominences. Pictured above is one of the largest solar prominence eruptions yet observed, one associated with a subsequent coronal mass ejection. The prominence erupted last month and was recorded by several Sun-sensing instruments, including the recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The above time lapse sequence was captured by SDO and occurred over a few hours. In recent months, our Sun has becoming increasingly active, following a few years of an unusually dormant solar minimum. Over the next few years our Sun is expected to reach solar maximum and exhibit a dramatic increase in sunspots and all types of solar explosions.

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Gosh, that's lovely; so graceful, it looks like ballet.

Radical. Does the prominence exit from one polarity (North or South) and then re-enter in an opposite polarity? The plasma seems to follow magnetic lines (or are the magnetic lines coupled with the plasma?).

See also:

SDO: First Light Images of the Sun
SDO Delivers Stunning First Images
APOD: SDO: The Extreme Ultraviolet Sun (2010 Apr 23)
HEAPOW: Sun in Living Color (2010 Apr 26)

This is wierd, I can see the Apod in the thumbnail image above, but when I click on it, or try to view it in the Apod archive it doesn't let me see it grrrr. I've missed out on todays Apod, one of the few things which makes the day worthwhile.



Paul.

Interesting how there is a radial pattern on the sun's surface 90 degrees from the plane of the prominence's loop. One can almost imagine the massive current loops that seem to be "floating" to the surface causing increased heating and the prominence to grow and eventually break.

There seems to be some very definite discontinuities in the current density as evidenced by the modulated patterns of brightness on the solar surface.

Way cool video!

Bummer! I couldn't download the video either - maybe because I'm on a crowded dial-up internet connection. Is it possible to provide a link to a smaller version of the video?

You need flash player 10 to view YouTube.
Lower resolution versions available here.
Quicktime (.mov) versions available here.

I was just begining to wonder why we are seeing the Sun's "Handle" again when i noticed the white arrow in the middle of the picture.
Thats the first time i have ever seen it in motion. Now i can hear it saying - I'm going to make it this time, i just have to escape this place! i just have to strain a little harder--just a little more--almost there - DAMN -- Gravity!!

This is a way cool up-close video of this large solar prominence! HOW FAR into space does it reach? I've searched and searched a number a astronomy web sites but have never found this information. Can someone supply me with this info? I'm just curious.

kantol wrote:This is a way cool up-close video of this large solar prominence! HOW FAR into space does it reach? I've searched and searched a number a astronomy web sites but have never found this information. Can someone supply me with this info? I'm just curious.

well apparently you can fit many earths under a large solar prominence, so imagine that? its quite scary really.


Paul

kantol wrote:This is a way cool up-close video of this large solar prominence! HOW FAR into space does it reach? I've searched and searched a number a astronomy web sites but have never found this information. Can someone supply me with this info? I'm just curious.

This event looks like it extends about one-fifth of a solar diameter. So that means it extends around 280,000 km, or 20 times the diameter of the Earth.

Thanks bystander .....

Where is Voyager to fly through it? Seriously, it is funny how similar this looks to Voyager's opening credits. Geeky, I know.

Voyager is there on the left just below the uppermost portion of the prominence in about 250 years

Discover the disc cover...

If the Moon is made out of cheese, then the Sun must be made out of cotton candy

Okay, so this is a great solar prominence, but i have a question... Who got shaky with the camera at the end there?

Is this the same prominence featured in the 18-Apr-2010 APOD Large Eruptive Prominence Imaged by STEREO?

APOD Robot wrote:... The prominence erupted last month and was recorded by several Sun-sensing instruments, including the recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) ...

The was recorded link is the same APOD you linked to so I'm assuming the answer is yes. It also featured in APOD: SDO: The Extreme Ultraviolet Sun (2010 Apr 23).

bystander - thanks again for mentioning the flash 10 plugin - for sometime I have been frustrated because I couldn't view videos in my bowser and was blaming it all on my slow dialup internet connection. I had no idea that I needed that plugin - thanks for being alert enough to recognize the possible source of the problem!! I can now see embedded objects like the solar video for this APOD ....