Pic Of The Day (25th Oct)

Event Horizon · 25 Oct 2002 at 07:21

Full size Image

Twisted magnetic fields arching from the solar surface can trap ionized gas, suspending it in huge looping structures. These majestic plasma arches are seen as prominences above the solar limb. On September 14 2001 , this dramatic and detailed image was recorded by the EIT experiment on board the space-based SOHO observatory in the light emitted by ionized Helium. It shows hot plasma escaping into space as a fiery prominence breaks free from magnetic confinement a hundred thousand miles above the Sun. These awesome events bear watching as they can affect communications and power systems ninety three million miles away on Planet Earth.

Augmented · 25 Oct 2002 at 07:58

Wow, that is a fantastic image! Beautiful yet frightening. Brilliant stuff.

It's nigh on impossible to grasp the true scale of it.
IIRC Mars is the way it is due to the solar 'winds' battering it over the eons, ripping away the atmosphere. You've got to wonder what it was once like.

akakjs · 25 Oct 2002 at 10:42

Class

ta, its been a most intresting week for my wallpaper

akakjs

Slackworth · 25 Oct 2002 at 10:44

that will make a nice paper...must just save my glass xp first

BuckEye · 25 Oct 2002 at 10:48

That is one AMAZING pic!

The force behind that kind of event is unimaginable, but SOO impressive...

S

Slackworth · 25 Oct 2002 at 10:50

I wanna know what the sun would look like if you could stand next to it

Event Horizon · 25 Oct 2002 at 16:59

I know there is sometimes not much you can say to a post like this, but is everyone enjoying them? The general feeling i get is that they are and feedback is very positive, being consistently viewed 150 - 180 times a day cant be bad, so for now i will continue my quest to bring you the best pics i can find of our natural universe.

Thanks for your comments chaps

EV

funky_llama · 25 Oct 2002 at 17:15

Nice pic once again. These threads brighten up the seti forum.

What it is hard to comprehend from that picture is the immensity of it (no jokes lads). That magnetic field you see is probably a thousand times bigger than the earth :eek:

How small we humans are

TrUz · 25 Oct 2002 at 17:19

Brilliant pic again m8.

The read-ups with them are also great and very interesting,

Event Horizon · 25 Oct 2002 at 17:26

I cant remember the exact figure as it is liable to small changes, i will try and find out for you, all i can say for sure is that the suns magnetic fields are a magnitude above anything imaginable on earth (thing massive and x that by 10,000) Another bit of info for you is that that loop is probably in the region of 3.5 million degrees Fahrenheit and are so hot they will be giving of x-rays.