4/15/2004: Solar prominence

Undertoad · 04-15-2004, 12:53 PM

A recent Astro pic of the day. This is our Sun, and that "thingie" coming off it like some cellophane wrapper is called a solar prominence.

Not to be confused with the Senior Promenade.

What happens is that the Sun lets out a big fart of solar gases, you see, but somehow the Sun's magnetic field keeps it close in, nearby, where it just sort of... lingers. For up to a month.

How big a fart: turns out the entire Earth could fit in that space between the Sun and the fart.

What happens next is that the fart is ejected out into space. It becomes "magnetically unstable", and is spat out like a giant balloon letting off. This process takes anywhere from tens of minutes to hours to complete. but when you consider that the whole fart is 300000 km (187000 miles) long, well, lets just say it's bookin'.

It's really pretty for a fart and that's why I picked it.

04-15-2004, 12:53 PM	#1
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	4/15/2004: Solar prominence A recent Astro pic of the day. This is our Sun, and that "thingie" coming off it like some cellophane wrapper is called a solar prominence. Not to be confused with the Senior Promenade. What happens is that the Sun lets out a big fart of solar gases, you see, but somehow the Sun's magnetic field keeps it close in, nearby, where it just sort of... lingers. For up to a month. How big a fart: turns out the entire Earth could fit in that space between the Sun and the fart. What happens next is that the fart is ejected out into space. It becomes "magnetically unstable", and is spat out like a giant balloon letting off. This process takes anywhere from tens of minutes to hours to complete. but when you consider that the whole fart is 300000 km (187000 miles) long, well, lets just say it's bookin'. It's really pretty for a fart and that's why I picked it.

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