Space Saturday XVI
This week’s Space Saturday bring to you the Sun, more specifically, a solar filament!
Credit: TRACE, NASA (Via APOD)
Hot gas frequently erupts from the Sun. One such eruption produced the glowing filament pictured above, which was captured in 2000 July by the Earth-orbiting TRACE satellite.
The filament stretches about 62,000 miles (that means almost 8 earth’s could be stacked inside). The filament is formed by hot gas eruptions and the magnetic field of the sun which combine for some awe inspiring images.
Resources:
APOD: A Solar Filament Lifts Off
Wikipedia: Sun
Wikipedia: TRACE
TRACE Mission Homepage
Images from TRACE
That`s an amazing picture!
Hi Matt, really nice site. I found your blog while surfing on Blogmad.
Rob in China
That looks like a Balrog.
Thanks, there is a lot of cool stuff out there!
Jeff - I think Tolkien ripped off NASA.