The Solar Orbiter spacecraft, a joint project of the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) has captured the largest solar prominence eruption ever observed in a single image together with the full solar disc.
This latest event took place on 15 February and extended millions of kilometres into space. The eruption most likely originated from the side of the sun facing away from earth. Hence, the coronal mass ejection was directed away from Earth.
The imagery was captured by the 'Full Sun Imager' (FSI) of the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) on Solar Orbiter. FSI is designed to look at the full solar disc even during close passages of the Sun.
Solar prominences are large structures of tangled magnetic field lines that keep dense concentrations of solar plasma suspended above the Sun's surface, sometimes taking the form of arching loops. They are often associated with coronal mass ejections, which can wreak havoc with our technology and everyday lives if directed towards the earth.
Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
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