The Gassy Star

The Sun is gaseous...in more ways than one.

We already know that the Sun is giant ball of plasma that gives off a lot of light and heat, but did you know the Sun also belches hot gas from its surface?

These belches are called solar flares and the gas and plasma given off are called solar prominences.

 

As you can see from the image, the prominence actually is curved.  The prominence is magnetic and follows along magnetic field lines eminating from sunspots (which will be covered later).  The prominence is most obvious when looking at the limb (edge) of the Sun, but can also be seen on the face of the Sun.

When the prominence is seen on the face, that is called a filament.

Looking closely, you can also see prominences along the limb of the Sun.

 

If a flare is really energetic, it can give off coronal mass ejections which can really wreak havoc on Earth. CMEs can disrupt satellite communications and any spacecraft in orbit around the Earth.

 

 

SOHO (the Solar Heliospheric Observatory) took these images to show how energetic CMEs can be. The image on the left shows that the CME is as big as the Sun itself.

 

All of these are examples of an active Sun.  Another examples is the solar wind which gives rise to beautiful auroras near the poles of the Earth. If the Earth did not have its magentic field, however, the solar wind would cause the Earth to have a really bad day.