                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                              2018 September 16
                                      [2]
                           A Solar Filament Erupts
            Image Credit: NASA [3] 's GSFC [4] , SDO AIA Team [5]

Explanation: What's happened to our Sun? Nothing very unusual -- it just threw
a filament [6] . Toward the middle of 2012, a long standing solar filament [7]
suddenly erupted into space producing an energetic Coronal Mass Ejection
(CME). The filament [8]  had been held up for days by the Sun's ever changing
magnetic field [9] and the timing of the eruption was unexpected. Watched
closely [10]  by the Sun-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory, the resulting
explosion [11] shot [12]  electrons and ions into the Solar System, some of
which arrived at Earth three days later and impacted Earth's magnetosphere
[13] , causing visible aurorae [14] . Loops of plasma surrounding an active
region [15]  can be seen above the erupting filament in the featured [16]
ultraviolet [17]  image. Although the Sun is now in a relatively inactive [18]
 state of its 11-year cycle [19] , unexpected holes [20]  have opened in the
Sun's corona [21]  allowing an excess of charged particles [22] to stream into
space. As before, these charged particles are creating auroras [23] .

                    Tomorrow's picture: black hole necklace

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [35] (MTU [36] ) & Jerry Bonnell [37]
                                  (UMCP [38] )
          NASA Official:  Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [39] .
              NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [40]
              A service of: ASD [41]  at NASA [42]  / GSFC [43]
                           & Michigan Tech. U. [44]
----------
Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1809/filament_sdo_1080.jpg
  [3] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [4] https://www.nasa.gov/goddard
  [5] https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [6] ap101215.html
  [7] http://solar.physics.montana.edu/ypop/Program/hfilament.html
  [8]
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/09/10/
a-huge-solar-filament-erupts-into-space/
  [9] http://solar-center.stanford.edu/magnetism/magneticfields.html
  [10] http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/sets/72157631408160534/
  [11] http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/7931868316/in/set-72157631408160534
  [12] http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/7938936660/in/set-72157631408160534
  [13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetosphere
  [14] ap120321.html
  [15] ap080924.html
  [16] http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/7931831962/in/set-72157631408160534/
  [17] https://science.nasa.gov/ems/10_ultravioletwaves
  [18]
https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/news-articles/solar-minimum-is-coming
  [19] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cycle
  [20] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_hole
  [21] ap180430.html
  [22] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charged_particle
  [23] http://spaceweathergallery.com/aurora_gallery.html
  [24] ap180915.html
  [25] archivepix.html
  [26] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [27] lib/aptree.html
  [28] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [29] calendar/allyears.html
  [30] /apod.rss
  [31] lib/edlinks.html
  [32] lib/about_apod.html
  [33] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=180916
  [34] ap180917.html
  [35] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [36] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [37] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [38] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [39] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [40] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [41] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [42] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [43] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [44] http://www.mtu.edu/
