Prominence Eruption

This movie shows an exceptionally large prominence eruption on the Sun on April 9, 2008, as seen from the STEREO Ahead spacecraft. Just above the solar surface, the relatively cool prominence material is best seen by the EUVI telescope in the Helium II line at 304 Angstroms. A considerable amount of twisting motion is seen in the prominence material as it goes out, with the initial motion being mostly down at first, and then deflecting rapidly towards the right. After leaving the EUVI field of view, the prominence continues to seen as a bright rope-like structure in the COR-1 coronagraph images, before fading away as the prominence heats up and expands. The erupting prominence was also captured in images from the STEREO Behind spacecraft, and from the Hinode, TRACE, and SOHO missions close to Earth. The appearance of the event from these three separate viewpoints is quite different and will help us understand the three-dimensional nature of the eruption.

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