Astronomy Picture of the Week – Solar Eruption
This is a fairly old picture of the Sun since it has been taken on September 14, 1997 by the space-based SOHO observatory. It represents a massive solar eruption. Such a phenomenon occurs when magnetic fields arching from the solar surface twist and trap ionized gas, suspending it in huge looping structures, often expelling it into space. Occasionally that huge amount of solar plasma is ejected in the direction of Earth. Fortunately we are protected by the Earth’s magnetic field, but if the eruption is large enough it can cause some electronic disturbances.
Image Credit: SOHO-EIT Consortium, ESA, NASA.
Paul Tomaszewski
Paul Tomaszewski is the founder of CosmoBC. He enjoys programming and writing on topics such as technology, business, astronomy, and many more. You can follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter.
One Comment
Anon
Man, if only we can harvest a small percentage of that power! Just think that all the energy we are currently using (except of atomic probably) is a Sun energy in some way or form. Fossil fuel, hydro energy, wind and solar — all ultimately is a transformed solar energy.