SpaceWeather.com | Large Solar Prominence on Sun's NW limb (for scale Earth would fit beneath arch with room to spare)

SOLAR ACTIVITY: This morning, John Stetson of Portalnd, Maine trained his solar telescope on the sun and witnessed an enormous "triangle of fire." Students P. Fitzpatrick and F. Stewart helped him take this picture:

"We really enjoyed observing and imaging this prominence on the sun's northwestern limb," says Stetson.

Although it resembles fire, no combustion is involved. Prominences are glowing clouds of solar plasma held aloft by magnetic fields. The shape of the prominence traces the shape of the underlying magnetic field--in this case a towering triangle. For scale, Earth would fit beneath the arch with room to spare.

There are many more prominences dancing around the edge of the sun today. Readers, if you have a solar telescope, take a look.

SOHO's latest image

more images: from Patrick Pelletier of Serbannes, France; from Marco Vidovic of Stojnci, Slovenia; from Matthias Juergens of Gnevsdorf, Germany