Hi-res TIF image (3.7M)
This SOHO image of an elongated filament, taken in extreme UV light, shows a cooler (and thus darker) string of gases hovering above the Sun's surface (May 20, 2010). The bright regions beneath it, which show where heating is going on in the magnetic field, actually help us see it better. Filaments are clouds of gas that are suspended by tenuous magnetic fields. They are often unstable and commonly erupt. This one is estimated to be at least 50 Earth diameters long (about 500,000 miles).




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