Context: Scientists recently observed a large prominence near Sun’s north pole. 

What is Solar Prominence?

• A solar prominence (also known as a filament when viewed against the solar disk) is a large, bright feature extending outward from the Sun’s surface.

• Prominences are anchored to the Sun’s surface in the photosphere, and extend outwards into the Sun’s hot outer atmosphere, called the corona.

• A prominence forms over timescales of about a day, and stable prominences may persist in the corona for several months, looping hundreds of thousands of miles into space.

How are they formed?

• Scientists are still researching how and why prominences are formed.

• The red-glowing looped material is plasma, a hot gas comprised of electrically charged hydrogen and helium.

• The prominence plasma flows along a tangled and twisted structure of magnetic fields generated by the sun’s internal dynamo.

• An erupting prominence occurs when such a structure becomes unstable and bursts outward, releasing the plasma.