One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

GREAT FILAMENT: The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) is tracking an enormous magnetic filament on the sun. It stretches more than one million kilometers from end to end, which makes it an easy target for backyard solar telescopes.

http://www.spaceweather.com/

http://www.spaceweather.com/images20...4ctbqbha19jsg1


I was surprised I could not find a thread on this anywhere here. This is not meant to be "doom and gloom", whatever may come of it is meant to be. I just think it is pretty cool and really wish I had the equipment to take some photos of it myself. There is not much much known about these filaments. They are known to cause "Hyder flares" when they crash back down and usually only last a few hours. This one has been going on for 3 days and counting.


-E

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

More info on filaments:

"Filaments are formed in magnetic loops that hold relatively cool, dense gas suspended above the surface of the Sun," explains David Hathaway, a solar physicist at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. "When you look down on top of them they appear dark because the gas inside is cool compared to the hot photosphere below. But when we see a filament in profile against the dark sky it looks like a giant glowing loop -- these are called prominences and they can be spectacular."

this and more at: http://spaceweather.com/glossary/filaments.html


Our Sun just amazes me

-E

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

Thanks ewhite! Cool photo indeed... I'm wondering what exactly that will mean for us on earth. :zip:

:mfr_omg:

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

BOOM!!! :lmao:

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

It is pretty awesome, glad you liked it. As far as what it may mean for us on Earth? I am not sure, and personally try not to worry about it, you know. Even if this thing could wipe out all electronics on Earth, I am not sure it would be all bad. Sometimes I find myself wondering what it would be like without our gadgets and our "electronic necessities" and to tell you the truth after the initial shock of it all, it really may not be a bad way to live in my opinion. As I stated earlier whatever is meant to happen will indeed happen, might as well enjoy the "awesomeness" and the eerily beautiful sight right now.

-E

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

I cant wait... :naughty:

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

I personally hate wikipedia sources but this is pretty interesting:

"the largest observed by SOHO was seen in 1997 and was some 350,000 km (216,000 miles) long [1] - some 28 times the diameter of the Earth. The mass contained within a prominence is typically of the order of 100 billion tonnes of material."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_filament

This spectacle is supposedly over 1,000,000 km long which would make it the largest observed since the SOHO mission started. WOW!


-E

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

Update:


GREAT FILAMENT, CONTINUED: For the seventh day in a row, an enormous magnetic filament is hanging suspended above the surface of the sun's southern hemisphere. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has a great view. How long can it last? Solar filaments are unpredictable. If this one collapses and hits the stellar surface, the impact could produce a powerful Hyder flare. Readers with solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor developments

http://www.spaceweather.com/

-E

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

any idea if the timing on this is related to this filament?

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

I wasn't able to figure out how to get the link to appear as a graphic, top 5 Discoveries by NASA great videos

SDO NASA

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

Just a reminder;

GaiaLove is also a sun watcher.

He has a great one-page solar info center at:

http://2012info.ca/EarthWatch/Solar_Observatory.php

Fred

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

Very nice! Thanks!

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

It could be, more likely NASA is very interested in this next solar cycle, many believe it is going to be VERY active.

-E

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

I see it collapsed but wasn't able to find a good picture...

between 0719 and 1919 UT on Feb. 24th. The event did not produce a bright solar flare, as sometimes happens when filaments erupt, but there was a coronal mass ejection (CME). SOHO coronagraphs observed at least one and possibly as many as three clouds billowing away from the sun...

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

I wasn't able to find anything on the Stereo satellites that mention when the energy waves passed on the collapse.

Was there any correlation between those and when the earthquakes struck? I'm curious how a magnetic burst from the sun affects our planet...

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

a few days ago i had a dream that electronic devices all ovwr the world malfunctioned for several hours...after that everything went back to normal....a kind of "epicenter" of the problems was in USA....as in my dream it was marked red....

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

Well the northern lights in the southern Hemisphere before and during the Chile earthquakes are the first indications that my suspicions were correct...

Keep searching to see if anyone can find a confirmation on timing...

It happened in the middle of the night, was anything being seen on the other side of the earth in the daylight?

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

1,000,000 kilometers = 621,371.192 miles

You foreigners and your love of big numbers...

Sheesh!

Fred

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

Check this out:
SOHO is tracking a bright CME billowing upward from the vicinity of the sun's north pole: movie. Imagery from NASA's STEREO spacecraft show that this is a farside eruption, tilted away from Earth.

http://www.spaceweather.com/images20...4fm5ufhe65ctvd

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

well 78 times the diameter of the earth...

when it collapsed we had a major earthquake, a Tsunami that reached the coast of France from Chile, heavy storms around the world...

The effects are still being felt...

but the good thing is, my cell phone still works... :wink2:

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

bumping to the top, 5thelement just heard that a new filament has just appeared on the sun...

http://spaceweather.com/swpod2010/09...b46op109g5g8h6

they first spotted it on the 4th

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

March 5th a new filament was spotted:

http://spaceweather.com/

It appears that it is not just our planet that is restless:boxed:

El

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

let's hope it collapses like the last one so we aren't in the direct path. a massive earthquake in Chile followed the energy hitting us from that one that collapsed on the other side.

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

Doesn't seem to be much information regarding past filaments and tracking any effects out there in cyberspace.

Basic info below:
http://solar.physics.montana.edu/ypo...hfilament.html

El

Re: One Million kilometer filament on the Sun
 

the Chile Quake was 2 days after the collapse and the energy wasn't light so moved much slower, I found no info from the Stereo observatory that should have been monitoring those energy waves as they passed.