chromosphere: Quiescent and Eruptive Prominences

Most spectacular of the solar features are the streams of hot gas, called prominences, that shoot out thousands or even hundreds of thousands of miles from the sun's surface at velocities as great as 250 mi per sec (400 km per sec). Two major classifications are the quiescent and the eruptive prominences. Quiescent prominences bulge out from the surface about 20,000 mi (32,000 km) and can last days or weeks. Eruptive prominences are thin flames of gas often reaching heights of 250,000 mi (400,000 km); they occur most frequently in the zones containing sunspots. Dark strandlike objects called filaments were discovered on the disk and were originally thought to be a special kind of feature. These are now known to be prominences seen against the bright background of the photosphere.

Until the middle of the 19th cent. prominences could be viewed extending from the edge of the sun's disk only during a solar eclipse. However, in 1868 a method of observing them with a spectroscope at any clear time of day was developed, and in 1930 the invention of the coronagraph allowed them to be continuously photographed.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Solar Flares
• Quiescent and Eruptive Prominences
• Spicules and Plages
• Composition and Characteristics of the Chromosphere

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