Explanation: Click the arrow and watch an unusually long filament explode out from the Sun. The filament had been seen hovering over the Sun's surface for over a week before it erupted earlier this month. The image sequence was taken by the Earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) in a color of ultraviolet light specifically emitted by helium. The explosion created Coronal Mass Ejections which dispersed high energy plasma into the Solar System. This plasma cloud, though, missed the Earth and so did not cause auroras. The above eruption and an unusuallyexpansive eruption that occurred in August are showing how widely separated areas of the Sun can sometimes act in unison. Explosions like this will likely become more common over the next few years as our Sun moves toward Solar Maximum activity.
[b] http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22282 [/b] wrote:
<<Schrijver and Title broke down the Great [Solar] Eruption [on August 1, 2010] into more than a dozen significant shock waves, flares, filament eruptions, and CMEs spanning 180 degrees of solar longitude and 28 hours of time. At first it seemed to be a cacophony of disorder until they plotted the events on a map of the sun's magnetic field. Title describes the Eureka! moment: "We saw that all the events of substantial coronal activity were connected by a wide-ranging system of separatrices, separators, and quasi-separatrix layers." A "separatrix" is a magnetic fault zone where small changes in surrounding plasma currents can set off big electromagnetic storms.>>
A very long solar filament that had been snaking around the Sun erupted earlier this month (Dec. 6, 2010) with a flourish. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) caught the action in dramatic detail in extreme ultraviolet light of Helium. It had been almost a million km long ((about half a solar radius) and a prominent feature on the Sun visible over two weeks ago before it rotated out of view. Filaments are elongated clouds of cooler gases suspended above the Sun by magnetic forces. They are rather unstable and often break away from the Sun. Note: the edge of the moon can be glimpsed at 0300 UT during a brief lunar transit.
Re: APOD: A Huge Solar Filament Erupts (2010 Dec 15)
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:55 am
by hstarbuck
That's cool, even though it's hot, really hot. Aside: Even though the corona is over a million degrees, because of the lower density compared to chromosphere and photosphere i would think that there is significantly less energy (per unit volume) than these. Kind of like how the thermosphere on Earth is at a higher temp, but would not supply much heat. It's a little misleading.
Re: APOD: A Huge Solar Filament Erupts (2010 Dec 15)
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 11:57 am
by DGordon
These SDO and SOHO posts need a time scale. Is this real time or did it take hours?
Re: APOD: A Huge Solar Filament Erupts (2010 Dec 15)
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 12:37 pm
by neufer
DGordon wrote:These SDO and SOHO posts need a time scale. Is this real time or did it take hours?
They do have a time scale at the bottom; it takes 2 days.
(One also has a crude idea of the time scale from the rotation of the sun itself.)
Re: APOD: A Huge Solar Filament Erupts (2010 Dec 15)
A Huge Solar Filament Erupts
