SOHO Pick of the Week: Huge Eruptive Prominence 19 Feb 2002
SOHO observed a huge eruptive prominence arching out from the Sun on
Feb. 18, 2001. The first image captured it in extreme ultraviolet
light (EIT 304Å) when part of it had already stretched beyond the
instrument’s field of view. Here it probably extends more than 50
times the size of Earth. In the second (LASCO C2) image the
expanding arch can be seen still largely intact just two hours later
as the brightest part of a coronal mass ejection. The solar storm
carries billions of tons of particles at millions of kilometers per
hour.
SOHO began its Weekly Pick some time after
sending a weekly image or video clip to the American Museum of
Natural History (Rose Center) in New York City. There, the SOHO Weekly Pick is displayed with some annotations on a large plasma display.
If your institution would also like to receive the same Weekly Pick from us
for display (usually in Photoshop or QuickTime format), please send
your inquiry to steele.hill@gsfc.nasa.gov.
