A Solar Prominence from SOHO

What happened to the Sun? Nothing very unusual: the strange-looking solar appendage on the lower left is actually just a spectacular looking version of a common solar prominence . A solar prominence is a cloud of solar gas held above the Sun's surface by the Sun's magnetic field . Pictured above in 2002 October, NASA's Sun-orbiting SOHO spacecraft imaged an impressively large prominence hovering over the surface, informally dubbed a flame. Over 40 Earth s could line up along the vast length of the fireless flame of hovering hot gas. A quiescent prominence typically lasts about a month, and may erupt in a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) expelling hot gas into the Solar System . Although somehow related to the Sun's changing magnetic field , the energy mechanism that creates and sustains a Solar prominence is still a topic of research .