What Causes Solar Prominences

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What Causes Solar Prominences?

Prominences sometimes extend hundreds of thousands of kilometres above the Sun’s chromosphere. Their causes are uncertain but probably involve magnetic forces. … Prominences are clouds of incandescent ionized gas ejected from the Sun’s surface.

How is a solar prominence formed?

Prominences are shaped by the Sun’s complex magnetic field often forming loops with each end “anchored” to the Sun’s surface (photosphere). Prominences are enormous extending for many thousands of kilometers (miles). Prominences can last for several days – or up to several months!

What causes solar flares and prominences to occur?

Solar flares are a sudden explosion of energy caused by tangling crossing or reorganizing of magnetic field lines near sunspots. The surface of the Sun is a very busy place. It has electrically charged gases that generate areas of powerful magnetic forces. These areas are called magnetic fields.

Where do solar prominences occur?

A solar prominence (also known as a filament when viewed against the solar disk) is a large bright feature extending outward from the Sun’s surface. Prominences are anchored to the Sun’s surface in the photosphere and extend outwards into the Sun’s hot outer atmosphere called the corona.

What causes sun spots?

They are caused by interactions with the Sun’s magnetic field which are not fully understood. … Sunspots occur over regions of intense magnetic activity and when that energy is released solar flares and big storms called coronal mass ejections erupt from sunspots.

What happens when prominences join?

Loops in sunspot regions (prominences) sometimes suddenly connect releasing large amounts of magnetic energy. The energy heats gas on the Sun to millions of degrees Celcius causing the gas to erupt into space. A sudden release of energy occurs when prominences link together. This is what these eruptions are called.

How do prominences affect Earth?

Prominences are associated with the release of high energy particles known as a solar flare. … The solar flare aspect of a prominence has the most common effect on the earth. Normally the magnetic field surrounding earth deflects harmful solar radiation.

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When prominences join they cause sunspots solar flares?

Solar prominences are the plasma loops that connect two sunspots. Solar flares and coronal mass ejections are eruptions of highly energetic particles that can erupt from the Sun’s surface and cause problems with power grids and communications on Earth.

How do prominences differ from solar flares?

A prominence is a bright relatively dense and relatively cool arched cloud of ionized gas in the chromosphere and corona of the Sun. … A solar flare is a sudden brief (typically lasting only a few minutes) and explosive release of solar magnetic energy that heats and accelerates the gas in the Sun’s atmosphere.

What causes Coronalholes?

Coronal holes occur when the Sun’s magnetic field is open to interplanetary space. Conversely in regions where the solar magnetic fields loop back to the Sun forming arches X-ray and UV images show bright areas.

How often do solar prominences occur?

They form over timescales of about a day and may persist in the corona for several weeks or months looping hundreds of thousands of kilometers into space.

What’s the definition of prominences?

: the state of being important well-known or noticeable : the state of being prominent.

How are sunspots and prominences related?

How are prominences and sunspots related? Sunspots are the lowest visible part of the magnetic disturbance and prominences are the higher arches. What happens as the bases of magnetic field loops are twisted? The loops reconnect and release energy into the upper atmosphere.

What are solar prominences?

A solar prominence (also known as a filament when viewed against the solar disk) is a large bright feature extending outward from the Sun’s surface. Prominences are anchored to the Sun’s surface in the photosphere and extend outwards into the Sun’s hot outer atmosphere called the corona.

What causes sunspots quizlet?

What causes sunspots? Magnetic fields breaking through the photosphere inhibit gas motion where the field is strong.

What elements make up most of the Sun’s mass?

The sun is mostly composed of the elements hydrogen (H) and helium (He). By mass the composition of the sun is 92.1% hydrogen and 7.9% helium. Various metals make up less than 0.1% of the mass of the sun.

Why is the solar prominence important?

These prominences can last for days sometimes even months and are often associated with a very powerful surge of gas that flows outward in a giant solar “belch” — a coronal mass ejection that can light up Earth’s skies with an aurora and even interfere with our technology. For solar observers prominences are a joy.

Can we see prominences?

But as you point out anyone can see prominences any day with the aid of a telescope fitted with a hydrogen-alpha (Hα) filter. … The hydrogen emission is responsible for the distinctive color of prominences and the chromosphere the tenuous hot layer of gas overlying the photosphere.

Which of these is the most likely impact of solar prominence on Earth?

Answer: Loss of electrical power generation. Explanation: This is because some prominences break apart and may then give rise to coronal mass ejections which will cause far more damages to the electrical power being used on earth.

What do prominences do?

Prominences absorb radiation from below and emit it in all directions a process called pure scattering. The visible light emitted toward Earth at the limb has been removed from the upward beam so the prominences appear dark against the disk. But the sky is darker still so they appear bright against the sky.

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How do solar prominences affect Earth quizlet?

How do solar flares affect the Earth? … Particles from solar flares can distort Earth’s magnetic field which in turn disrupts navigation systems cause surges in electrical systems causing damage and blackouts and damage or disrupt satellites.

How do solar prominences affect communication?

Solar flares have been known to affect electronic communication because their energy stirs up the Earth’s upper atmosphere making radio broadcasts noisy and weak. The flares caused by violent storms on the Sun eject a stream of electrically-charged particles some of which reach the Earth.

What causes a CME?

Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s corona. … This can result in the sudden release of electromagnetic energy in the form of a solar flare which typically accompanies the explosive acceleration of plasma away from the Sun – the CME.

What causes solar flares and coronal mass ejections?

According to NASA a solar flare is an intense burst of radiation that comes from the release of magnetic energy linked with the sunspots. Coronal mass ejections or CMEs are massive clouds of particles that are pushed out into space from the Sun’s atmosphere.

How do geomagnetic storms affect humans?

Does the Earth’s magnetic field affect human health? The Earth’s magnetic field does not directly affect human health. … High-altitude pilots and astronauts can experience higher levels of radiation during magnetic storms but the hazard is due to the radiation not the magnetic field itself.

What does the subsurface flow of the Sun do?

Gas on the Sun’s surface has been observed to flow away from the equator towards both poles. … These deep flows would also redistribute angular momentum within the Sun and therefore help to maintain the faster rotation of the equator relative to the poles.

What is corona holes in the Sun?

Coronal holes are areas in the Sun’s atmosphere that appear dark in X-ray and ultraviolet images of the Sun. The plasma (electrified gas) in these regions of the Sun’s corona (it’s upper atmosphere) is cooler and more dense than in other parts of the corona.

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What happens in a geomagnetic storm?

During the main phase of a geomagnetic storm electric current in the magnetosphere creates a magnetic force that pushes out the boundary between the magnetosphere and the solar wind. Several space weather phenomena tend to be associated with or are caused by a geomagnetic storm.

Are clouds plasma?

a cloud or cloud-like natural astronomical entity composed of plasmas at least hot enough to emit X-rays is called a coronal cloud.

How big are prominences on the sun?

According to Chaisson & McMillan the size of a typical solar prominence is on the order of 100 000 km or around 10 times the diameter of Earth. Larger ones can reach a half-million kilometers. Prominences can show surges in time scales of hours but the quiescent ones can persist for days or weeks.

What does achieved prominence mean?

In movies music and sports the most successful people have great prominence — they’re prominent or famous. Anything that juts out or sticks out has prominence. Whether prominence comes from being widely known or just being hard to miss you can’t really ignore anything or anybody that has achieved prominence.

What is prominence in phonetics?

Prominence (phonetics) stress given to a certain syllable in a word or to a word in a sentence.

What does national prominence mean?

uncountable noun. If someone or something is in a position of prominence they are well-known and important. He came to prominence during the World Cup. Crime prevention had to be given more prominence. Synonyms: fame name standing rank More Synonyms of prominence.

Why do sunspots occur on the Sun explain the process occurring within the Sun?

Sunspots are magnetic in nature. They are the places (“active regions”) where the Sun’s magnetic field rises up from below the Sun’s surface and those magnetic regions poke through. … Sunspots are formed continuously as the Sun’s magnetic field actively moves through the Sun.