NASA's SDO Observes Another Very Long Filament on the Sun
Posted on October 27, 2015
NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) has observed another very long filament on the sun. The filament runs at least halfway across the face of the sun. NASA says the filament is about the length of 50 Earths side-by-side.
Filaments are elongated clouds of solar material that are tethered above the surface of the sun by magnetic forces. The unstable filaments usually break apart in less than a week. A hi-res version of the above image can be found here.
The new latest filament is shorter than a filament spotted by the SDO earlier this year. A very long filament spotted in February (pictured below) was the length of about 67 Earths side-by-side.
The SDO is constantly recording interesting phenomenon on the sun. Earlier this month the SDO observed a large prominence eruption during a 10-hour period on October 13. NASA says prominences are unstable clouds of gas tethered above the sun's surface by magnetic forces.
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