Prominences
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Quiescent prominence at the solar limb
Hinode Broadband Filter Imager
Prominence at the solar limb observed on November 30, 2006 with the Broadband Filter Imager (BFI) aboard the Hinode satellite. The measurements were performed in the Ca II H spectral line, to sample the chromosphere. The solar disk is overexposed to reveal the weak prominence signal.
Prominences are chromospheric structures made of relatively cool gas embedded in the solar corona. They evolve very slowly and are the place where several types of instabilities can occur. Noticeable in this movie is the existence of blobs of plasma within the prominence that move upward and downward, revealing a highly dynamic environment. We still do not know how promimences are suspended in the solar corona, but the magnetic field is believed to play an important role.
To download the movie, click HERE
Movie credit: Kiyoshi Ichimoto (Kyoto University, NAOJ)
Text credit: Luis Bellot Rubio (IAA-CSIC)
Observations: Hinode (ISAS/JAXA, NAOJ, NASA, STFC, ESA)