Friday, July 6, 2012

Big Filaments


Filaments are prominences seen from above.  The image above shows some of the biggest filaments I've seen since I got my PST a little over a year ago.Filaments are held above the sun by magnetic loops.  They consist of relatively cool, dense gas and hence look darker against the hot photosphere underneath. When filaments collapse, usually due to instability in the magnetic field that supports them, they may produce significant flares (called, "Hyder flares").

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