What are prominences and filaments?
When viewed spewing from the edge of the Sun against the darkness of space, astronomers call the feature a prominence. But when seen against the background of the Sun, from a different perspective, the feature appears darker than its surroundings and is called a filament.
What is the prominence of the Sun?
A solar prominence (also known as a filament when viewed against the solar disk) is a large, bright feature extending outward from the Sun’s surface. Prominences are anchored to the Sun’s surface in the photosphere, and extend outwards into the Sun’s hot outer atmosphere, called the corona.
What are prominences on the Sun caused by?
Prominences sometimes extend hundreds of thousands of kilometres above the Sun’s chromosphere. Their causes are uncertain but probably involve magnetic forces. Prominences are clouds of incandescent, ionized gas ejected from the Sun’s surface.
What is the difference between sunspots and prominences?
Sunspots occur in pairs because each is one side of a loop of the Sun’s magnetic field that reaches the Sun’s surface. These spots are cooler and darker than the rest of the Sun’s surface and they are marked by intense magnetic activity. Solar prominences are the plasma loops that connect two sunspots.
What are filaments of the Sun?
Solar filaments are dark lines or curves that sometimes appear in pictures of the Sun. Filaments are actually huge arcs of plasma (electrified gas) in the Sun’s atmosphere. They look dark because they are not as hot as the Sun’s surface behind them.
How big are prominences on the Sun?
A typical prominence extends over many thousands of kilometers; the largest on record was estimated at over 800,000 km (500,000 mi) long, roughly a solar radius.
What’s the definition of prominences?
: the state of being important, well-known, or noticeable : the state of being prominent.
Are solar flares and prominences the same thing?
A prominence is a bright, relatively dense, and relatively cool arched cloud of ionized gas in the chromosphere and corona of the Sun. A solar flare is a sudden, brief (typically lasting only a few minutes), and explosive release of solar magnetic energy that heats and accelerates the gas in the Sun’s atmosphere.
What happens when prominences connect?
photosphere. These sun features are explosions of hot gas that occur when prominences connect. They shoot from the Sun’s surface releasing tremendous amounts of energy into space.
How do sunspots solar flares and solar prominences differ?
A solar flare, as defined by NASA, is an intense burst of radiation that results from the release of magnetic energy associated with the sunspots. A solar prominence, on the other hand, is a large and bright feature that extends from the Sun’s surface.
What are sun spots on the Sun?
Sunspots: One interesting aspect of the Sun is its sunspots. Sunspots are areas where the magnetic field is about 2,500 times stronger than Earth’s, much higher than anywhere else on the Sun. Because of the strong magnetic field, the magnetic pressure increases while the surrounding atmospheric pressure decreases.
What is a filament on the Sun quizlet?
A filament is a dark curve seen above the sun’s photosphere, a prominence is the side view of a filament. What are solar flares? a violent eruption on the sun’s surface.
How are the filaments of the Sun held in place?
Solar Filaments and Prominences. Filaments are large regions of very dense, cool gas, held in place by magnetic fields. They usually appear long and thin above the chromosphere, as in the picture above.
How are filaments and prominences the same thing?
Prominences are dense clouds of material suspended above the surface of the Sun by loops of magnetic field. Prominences and filaments are actually the same things except that prominences are seen projecting out above the limb, or edge, of the Sun.
What does the prominence of the Sun look like?
Compared to the mottled yellow of the surface, the filament looks dark. The prominence is more conspicuous in the right image, where much of the gas appears in profile. Viewed against the blackness of space, the prominence appears orange.
Where are the prominences on the solar disk?
Solar prominences – upper right (top image) and two in lower left and lower right (bottom image). Large loop-like structures on the edge of the solar disk sometimes stand out brightly against the dark background of space. These enormous structures are called solar prominences.