Starship Asterisk*

Record Prominence Imaged by Solar Orbiter

Explanation: What's happened to our Sun? Last month, it produced the largest prominence ever imaged together with a complete solar disk. The record image, featured, was captured in ultraviolet light by the Sun-orbiting Solar Orbiter spacecraft. A quiescent solar prominence is a cloud of hot gas held above the Sun's surface by the Sun's magnetic field. This solar prominence was huge -- spanning a length rivaling the diameter of the Sun itself. Solar prominences may erupt unpredictably and expel hot gas into the Solar System via a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). When a CME strikes the Earth and its magnetosphere, bright auroras may occur. This prominence did produce a CME, but it was directed well away from the Earth. Although surely related to the Sun's changing magnetic field, the energy mechanism that creates and sustains a solar prominence remains a topic of research.

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How much time does it take for a prominence this large to come into being? A few seconds, minutes, hours?

I also would be interested in an estimate of the mass that was released. (I would translate it to a % of earth mass to give it meaning I can relate to.)

To answer my own question

Earth is M = 5.9722×10^^24 kg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_mass

The average mass ejected is 1.6×10^^12 kg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_mass_ejection

A very small % of the mass of the earth, though not sure how much bigger than average is this one.

Also "CMEs reach velocities from 20 to 3,200 km/s (12 to 1,988 mi/s) with an average speed of 489 km/s (304 mi/s), based on SOHO/LASCO measurements between 1996 and 2003.[8] These speeds correspond to transit times from the Sun out to the mean radius of Earth's orbit of about 13 hours to 86 days (extremes), with about 3.5 days as the average. "

My first thought was, That’s too big to be a prominence!

Very scary beast! Glad it didn't head our way. I wonder if this is bad
news for the Earth's futuire? (Adorable cat) Kitty says, that's scary!

I wonder how today's grid would handle a direct hit from a Carrington Event or stronger CME. How long would the power stay off?

Ironwood wrote: ↑Wed Mar 02, 2022 1:15 pm I wonder how today's grid would handle a direct hit from a Carrington Event or stronger CME. How long would the power stay off?

I'm not sure but it would be good to have one of these to help our infrastructure.

SpaceCadet wrote: ↑Wed Mar 02, 2022 5:34 am How much time does it take for a prominence this large to come into being? A few seconds, minutes, hours?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_prominence
Prominences form over timescales of about a day and may persist in the corona for several weeks or months, looping hundreds of thousands of kilometers into space.

Thank you. That is pretty mind blowing.