Arching Solar Prominence

NASA's STEREO (Ahead) spacecraft watched as an eruptive prominence rose up and arched out in a horseshoe shape far above the Sun's surface (Aug. 25, 2010). The image and movie show the action in an extreme UV wavelength as an eruptive prominence churns, then rises up, arches out, and finally breaks apart and dissipates above the solar surface. Prominences are clouds of relatively cool gases suspended in the Sun's hot corona by magnetic fields that sometimes break loose to create these dramatic eruptions. The video clip covers about 30 hours of activity. This is one of the largest eruptive prominences we have seen in several years.

• 304_Hoop_best.mov   
• 304_Hoop_quadrant.mov   
• 304_Hoop_small.mov   
• 304_Hoop_quadrant.mpg   
• 304_Hoop.mpg   
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