Breaking News: Watch A Gigantic Looping Solar Prominence

[/caption]

The Solar Dynamics Observatory never fails to deliver absolutely stunning images from the Sun: as of 18:49 UT today, the above picture is what the Sun looked like in the ultraviolet spectrum. The prominence that you are seeing looping off the Sun is estimated at over 700,000 km across, which is about the radius of the entire Sun. Amazing!

You can head over to the Solar Dynamics Observatory site to watch this gigantic loop of solar plasma develop in real time.

There’s nothing to worry about here on Earth, though – we are safe from such activity on the Sun, even if that prominence is big enough swallow up thousands of Earths. There is no coronal-mass ejection or flare to go along with this prominence, both phenomena on the Sun that can reach Earth and mess with satellites and our power grid.

As you can see (or rather, not see) in this visible light image below, the flare seems to only be visible in the ultraviolet. Other spectra of the Sun as imaged by the SDO are available here. Why is this? Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, explains it best:

“In visible light, the light from the extremely thin material in the prominence is totally overwhelmed by the intense emission from the Sun’s surface, and is invisible. It’s only when we filter out most of the Sun’s light (and let through light specifically given off by the plasma in the prominence) that we can see it at all,” he wrote.

The Sun in the visible light spectrum, as seen from SDO at 18:00 UT. The two visible sunspots seem to be unrelated to this large prominence. Image Credit: SDO

This video shows the buildup up this most recent spectacular solar show, as this portion of the Sun comes into view from a 48-hour period between December 4th and 6th:

[UPDATE]: Here is a video that shows the prominence eruption as it expanded:

Spaceweather.com also has some other fantastic images that are linked to on their front page. Prominences like this can come crashing down quickly when they become unstable, so head over to the SDO site to watch the action as it develops!

Source: The Bad Astronomer, SDO

Nicholos Wethington

I started writing for Universe Today in September 2007, and have loved every second of it since! Astronomy and science are fascinating for me to learn and write about, and it makes me happy to share my passion for science with others. In addition to the science writing, I'm a full-time bicycle mechanic and the two balance nicely, as I get to work with my hands for part of the day, and my head the other part (some of the topics are a stretch for me to wrap my head around, too!).

Recent Posts

Is the Habitable Worlds Observatory a Good Idea?

The Habitable Worlds Observatory, NASA’s planned successor to the James Webb Space Telescope, will be…

16 hours ago

Spring-loaded Robot Could Explore the Asteroid Belt Almost Indefinitely

The asteroid belt beckons - it contains enough resources for humans to expand into the…

1 day ago

Stunning 80 Megapixel Image of a Stellar Nursery

RCW 38 is a molecular cloud of ionized hydrogen (HII) roughly 5,500 light-years from Earth…

1 day ago

Many Stars Could Have Sent Us ‘Oumuamua

When astronomers detected the first known interstellar object, 'Oumuamua, in 2017, it sparked a host…

1 day ago

Construction of Roman Continues With the Addition of its Sunshade

NASA continues to progress with the development of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (RST),…

2 days ago

A Flaming Flower in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Our neighbour, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), is rich in gas and dust and hosts…

2 days ago