SOLAR ACTIVITY:
By the standard of sunspot counts, solar activity is low. Maybe there should be a different standard:
NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft recorded this spectacular prominence on Sept. 29th.
No sunspot was involved.
A magnetic filament snaking around the sun's north pole suddenly became unstable and erupted, disgorging a cloud of hydrogen large enough to swallow a hundred Earths.
How and why prominences erupt is a topic of ongoing research. The blasts are unpredictable, which is why today's sun is so full of promise: image.
By the standard of prominences, solar activity is looking up.
Posted: 12:04:40 AM
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