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Solar Phenomenon

The Sun is a very exciting place. All sorts of activity and eruptions take place in it and around it. We will now briefly discuss a few of these interesting phenomema. You will be analyzing pictures of prominences and flares during your lab.

Prominences are huge loops of glowing gas protruding from the chromosphere. Charged particles spiral around the magnetic field lines that loop out over the surface of the Sun, and therefore we see bright loops above the Sun's surface. Very energetic prominences can break free from the magnetic field lines and shoot out into space.

Flares are brief but bright eruptions of hot gas in the Sun's atmosphere. These eruptions occur near sunspot groups and are associated with the Sun's intertwined magnetic field lines. A large flare can release as much energy as 10 billion megatons of TNT! The charged particles that flares emit can disrupt communication systems here on Earth.

Another result of charged particles bombarding the Earth is the Northern Lights. When the particles reach the Earth, they latch on to the Earth's magnetic field lines. These lines enter the Earth's atmosphere near the poles. The charged particles from the Sun then excite the molecules in Earth's atmosphere and cause them to glow. Your textbook will have more fascinating information about these solar phenomema.


next up previous
Next: Lab Exercises Up: Our Sun Previous: Sunspots
Tom Harrison 2006-05-22