                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

                              2022 September 13

                     A Long Snaking Filament on the Sun
        Image Credit & Copyright: Alan Friedman (Averted Imagination)

   Explanation: Earlier this month, the Sun exhibited one of the longer
   filaments on record. Visible as the bright curving streak around the
   image center, the snaking filament's full extent was estimated to be
   over half of the Sun's radius -- more than 350,000 kilometers long. A
   filament is composed of hot gas held aloft by the Sun's magnetic field,
   so that viewed from the side it would appear as a raised prominence. A
   different, smaller prominence is simultaneously visible at the Sun's
   edge. The featured image is in false-color and color-inverted to
   highlight not only the filament but the Sun's carpet chromosphere. The
   bright dot on the upper right is actually a dark sunspot about the size
   of the Earth. Solar filaments typically last from hours to days,
   eventually collapsing to return hot plasma back to the Sun. Sometimes,
   though, they explode and expel particles into the Solar System, some of
   which trigger auroras on Earth. The pictured filament appeared in early
   September and continued to hold steady for about a week.

                   Tomorrow's picture: waving space lizard
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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