Figure Obtained from Astronomy Picture of the Day

The picture from Astronomy picture of the day that I chose to write about this week is from April 18^th 2010 which is my birthday. The picture that was posted is above and is a picture of the Sun.  The picture of the Sun is most likely taken in the x-ray because one can see the sun in great detail. One can see from the picture that the picture is taken when the Sun is active.  The large eruption that can be seen in the top of the picture is one of the largest eruptive prominences that have ever been seen.  The eruption was captured in movie form by NASA’s twin Sun-orbiting STEREO satellites. A prominence is a large and bright feature of the sun and is often looped in shape. This means that it looks like it comes out of the sun and goes back into the sun. Prominences are anchored to the Sun’s “surface” in the photosphere and extend outwards. The prominences can extend into the Sun’s corona. If the prominence beak apart it gives rise to a coronal mass ejections. When a coronal mass ejection occurs it expels hot gas into the Solar System. The size of this prominence that is pictured above can fit many Earth into the loop. The gas that is released is made up of charged particles and they make it to Earth in approximately four days. When the particles get to Earth they can get trapped in the magnetic field or be deflected off. During high activity from the sun, the particles that are released can cause power outages on Earth and other factors. One of the phenomenon that some people on Earth are lucky to see is the Auroras. For a recap on what they Auroras are and how they are formed one can read the first post in my blog.  Along with the large prominence that is located on the top of the picture there are smaller eruptions that also so how active the sun can be. 

Information obtained from:

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100418.html