Prominence Lift-Off

STEREO (Ahead) kept a steady eye on a narrow portion of a solar prominence that rose up, wavered, and finally broke away from the Sun (May 28-30, 2010). It appeared that the trailing portion of the prominence still remained behind. With the spacecraftÕs viewing angle at edge on, the prominence looks somewhat like a long thin ribbon. Note that the part that erupted brightened (=heated in this case) as it went up. Prominences are cooler clouds of gas suspended above the solar surface by magnetic forces. They frequently become unstable and break away.

• Prom_lift_best.mov   
• Prom_lift_sm.mov   
• Prom_lift.mpg   
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