Solar prominences

Filaments of solar matter

Solar prominences are filaments of solar matter, projected above its surface, which characterize the activity of the Sun.
These are coronal mass ejections (CME).
This activity seems to vary by up to another within a cycle.
In absolute terms, solar activity is regulated by a cycle, an average of 11.2 years, but the duration can vary between 8 and 15.
Eruptive prominences of the Sun are huge geysers of solar matter that take place in the chromosphere and soar to hundreds of thousands of miles in space.
The Soho Space Satellite Launched in 1995, the program Soho contributes to international scientific programs in the study of Earth-Sun relationship. Soho is conducted in collaboration with NASA, in charge of launching the satellite, its control and the implementation of several instruments. The satellite was built in Toulouse by a European industrial consortium led by Astrium, the instruments were provided by the scientific community. More than 500 researchers from 20 different countries are involved in this program. La France has designed instruments EIT Swan and Golf, and has greatly contributed to the realization of experiments Sumer, CDS and Lasco. Although not designed for this purpose, Soho became the discoverer of comets the most prolific in the history of astronomy. space satellite has detected complex gas streams, flowing under the surface, but also shock waves and explosions standing in the solar atmosphere. With this success, the 1996 mission, for an initial term of two years, lasted until 2007 to allow the observatory to study an entire solar cycle.
Since January 30, 2009, the most beautiful pictures of solar prominences, beamed from the Russian probe Koronas-Photon and his TESIS telescope.

Coronal mass ejections (CME)

The sun continually produces 380 billion billion megawatts, 3.826 × 10²⁶ W and it for billions of years. The most spectacular events in times of intense magnetic activity, are the appearance of sunspots and prominences.
The number of spots increased gradually during the 11 years cycle, the next maximum would occur in 2012. Spectacular prominences can sometimes be observed, just above the solar limb.
This is the case in this photo from March 2010, when a giant projection, visible here on the right show came a resurgence of activity after a solar minimum, unusually long.
It may be noted in this picture, a fine carpet of hot gas, set on the Sun's chromosphere.

A solar prominence is a cloud of gas ejected from the solar surface, supported by a loop of magnetic field. Although very hot, prominences are slightly colder than the surface.
A prominence can last about a month, and eventually released, through a coronal mass ejection of hot gas throughout the solar system.

Image: The prominences are coronal mass ejections (CME). Every second, 564 million tons of hydrogen to produce fusion come into 560 million tons of helium, the 4 million tons lost, are converted into energy.
Credit & Copyright: Alan Friedman (Averted Imagination)

Spicule giant March 30, 2010

On March 30, 2010, the Sun has produced one of the largest eruptive prominences, never observed. It has appeared in just a few hours and could be filmed with the two STEREO satellites from NASA. Unpredictable, prominences expel hot gases in the solar system via a coronal mass ejection (CME). This image of our star, unreal appearance, was taken in April 2010 with the recent commissioning of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). This composite view, false color, shows the wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet and traces of hot plasma at a temperature close to a million degrees Kelvin. The image data expose the solar activity, with unprecedented detail. In fact, SDO sends 1.5 terabytes of data each day, equivalent to a daily download of about half a million MP3 songs. The SDO data also include a film, high resolution views eruptive along the solar limb.

The Sun's surface is dotted with hot granules generated by convection. The granules are rising columns of hot plasma and the dark parts are the columns down, cooled. However, the high resolution view shows that the dark parts are dotted with numerous small bright spots. These bright spots on the surface, does not appear to be sunspot, related magnetic cycle. However, bright spots are areas of concentration, magnetic fields, they are bright because the magnetic pressure, opens a window to the warm layers deeper below the photosphere.

Image: image of a solar spicule, visible here in the upper left, taken March 30, 2010 where we see the Sun, producing one of the largest ever observed eruptive prominences. Credit: NASA / Goddard / SDO AIA Team.