images

The Sun seen in ultraviolet by Soho. Oct. 20 2001.

by

Nasa/ESA/Soho/Eit/Novapix

Reference

a-sol02-01010

Date

2006-11-11

A solar prominence in extreme ultraviolet light (He II at 304Ã…) breaks away from the Sun. Prominences are huge clouds of relatively cool, dense plasma suspended in the Sun's hot, thin corona. Magnetic fields built up enormous forces that propelled particles out beyond the Sun's surface. Emission in this spectral line shows the upper chromosphere at a temperature of about 60,000 degrees K. To give a sense of scale, the prominence extends about 30 Earths out from the Sun.