How are prominences and solar flares alike and different?
A typical solar flare may last from few minutes to few hours and can be observed as bright areas on the Sun. A prominence is anchored to the Sun’s surface, unlike a flare, and is often characterized by a loop shape. A prominence is bound by the Sun’s magnetic field and can last for months.
How are sunspots flares and prominences related?
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.
Can solar flares cause prominences?
Most often these eruptions are in the form of loops and sheets called prominences which remain under the control of the intense magnetic fields associated with solar storms. There are other events which in a matter of minutes can release enormous amounts of energy and eject material out into space.
What do sunspots solar prominences and solar flares all have in common?
What do sunspots, solar prominences, and solar flares all have in common? They all have about the same temperature. They are all strongly influenced by magnetic fields on the Sun. They are all shaped by the solar wind.
What is the difference between solar wind and solar flare?
Solar winds constantly occur due to the corona of the sun continually expanding, but solar flares coincide with the sun’s 11-year cycle. At the start of a solar cycle, the sun’s magnetic field is weak, leading to fewer solar flares.
Why do sunspots cause solar flares?
The magnetic field lines near sunspots often tangle, cross, and reorganize. This can cause a sudden explosion of energy called a solar flare. Solar flares release a lot of radiation into space. They explode into space at very high speed when the Sun’s magnetic field lines suddenly reorganize.
Do prominences look dark in regular photographs?
Although the gas in a prominence is unimaginably hot by human standards, it is actually cool compared to the Sun’s surface. Compared to the mottled yellow of the surface, the filament looks dark. The prominence is more conspicuous in the right image, where much of the gas appears in profile.
What happens if a solar flare hits Earth?
If the ejection is in the direction of the Earth, particles associated with this disturbance can penetrate into the upper atmosphere (the ionosphere) and cause bright auroras, and may even disrupt long range radio communication. It usually takes days for the solar plasma ejecta to reach Earth.
How many years does a solar cycle last?
around eleven years
The duration of the sunspot cycle is, on average, around eleven years. However, the length of the cycle does vary. Between 1700 and the present, the sunspot cycle (from one solar min to the next solar min) has varied in length from as short as nine years to as long as fourteen years.
How long do solar prominences last?
Prominences can last for several days – or up to several months! Some prominences erupt and break apart, giving rise to coronal mass ejections (CME). Sometimes we see prominences against the bright background of the Sun itself, instead of at the edge of the Sun’s disk.
Why do sunspots appear to be dark?
Sunspots are dark, planet-sized regions that appear on the “surface” of the Sun. Sunspots are “dark” because they are cooler than their surroundings. Sunspots are caused by disturbances in the Sun’s magnetic field welling up to the photosphere, the Sun’s visible “surface”.
How are solar prominences different from solar flares?
Solar prominences, on the other hand, are essentially loops of relatively cool plasma that form on the Sun’s surface and extend outward into the corona. They form in the magnetic fields generated by sunspots. Prominences can reach up to hundreds of thousands of miles into space and persist for several weeks or months.
How are solar flares related to magnetic activity?
Most often these eruptions are in the form of loops and sheets called prominences, but there are other events which in a matter of minutes can release enormous amounts of energy and eject material out into space. Such violent events are called solar flares. Solar flares are associated with the magnetic activity of the Sun.
What kind of flare can you see on the Sun?
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this imagery of a solar flare, as seen in the bright flash. A loop of solar material, a coronal mass ejection (CME), can also be seen rising up off the right limb of the Sun. Solar flares are sometimes accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME for short).
What do prominences on the Sun look like?
Solar Prominences. While sunspots are relatively cool and quiescent regions on the Sun, the photosphere around them sometimes erupts with outflows of high energy particles in active regions. Most often these eruptions are in the form of loops and sheets called prominences which remain under the control of the intense magnetic fields associated…