#hot plasma

[chaptertwo-thepacnw]

[alxndrasplace]

(NASA)  A Solar Ballet Video Credit: NASA/Goddard/SDO AIA Team

Sometimes, the Sun itself seems to dance. On New Year's Eve, 2012, for example, NASA's Sun-orbiting Solar Dynamic Observatory spacecraft imaged an impressive prominence erupting from the Sun's surface. The dramatic explosion was captured in ultraviolet light in the above time lapse video covering four hours. Of particular interest is the tangled magnetic field that directs a type of solar ballet for the hot plasma as it falls back to the Sun. The scale of the disintegrating prominence is huge -- the entire Earth would easily fit under the flowing curtain of hot gas. A quiescent prominence typically lasts about a month, and may erupt in a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) expelling hot gas into the Solar System. The energy mechanism that creates a solar prominence is still a topic of research. As the Sun nears Solar Maximum this year, solar activity like eruptive prominences should be common.

[benjoyment]

This morning, an extremely hot ball of plasma appeared on the horizon. Fortunately, I had my camera handy to capture the event!