SOHO Pic of The Week: Prominence eruption

SOHO Pick of The Week

The STEREO (Behind) spacecraft was in position to get a profile view of this wide spreading prominence eruption (Sept. 30 – Oct. 1, 2010).

The ends of the prominence were far enough apart that the spread of the eruption extended across about 30 degrees of the Sun.

Prominences are unstable clouds of gases held above the Sun by powerful magnetic forces.

Frequently, something disrupts them and the prominences break away. The eruption began and disappeared from view in less than six hours.

The SOHO Mission

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) is stationed 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth. It constantly watches the Sun, returning spectacular pictures and data of the storms that rage across its surface.

SOHO's studies range from the Sun's hot interior, through its visible surface and stormy atmosphere. In addition, SOHO looks out to distant regions where the solar wind from the Sun battles with a breeze of atoms coming from among the stars. The SOHO mission is a joint ESA/NASA project.