#solar prominences

[nemfrog]

Solar corona and prominences. May 28, 1900. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. 1942.

Internet Archive

[dreamsandenvy]

Solar Eclipse

April 8, 2024 / Painesville, OH

Photographer: Sammi Kunz-Herdegen (me)

[adastra-sf]

our Sun gone feral

Solar flares, prominences, and coronal mass ejections as captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory

Solar flares are intense bursts of radiation from the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots. Flares are our Solar System's brightest events, visible for minutes to hours.

A solar prominence (or filament when viewed against the solar disk) is a huge, bright feature extending outward from the Sun's surface. Prominences are anchored to the Sun's photosphere and extend into its hot outer atmosphere (the corona). A prominence forms over about a day, and stable prominences can persist in the corona for several months, looping hundreds of thousands of miles into space. Some perspective:

Finally, coronal mass ejections are the bad bois. Strong magnetic fields structure the corona, and when these fields close (as above sunspot groups), the confined solar atmosphere can suddenly and violently release bubbles of magnetic plasma. A large CME can contain a billion tons of matter accelerated to several million miles per hour in a spectacular explosion. Solar material blasts out through the interplanetary medium, impacting any planet or spacecraft in its path. 

Some CMEs can be astoundingly huge, like this one recorded in 1998:

If you scroll up to the prominence that has Earth for scale, you can start to imagine the vastness of this eruption.

These things destroy satellites and burn out ground-based electronics. One - the Carrington Event on September 1, 1859 - famously generated strong auroral displays globally and sparked fires in many telegraph stations.

But they can also create pretty aurora like this:

Our Sun might be responsible for all life on Earth, but it's also a feral fusion-powered monster.

There's some story inspiration for you!

[chaosmagex]

Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it? I think I'll dust off this account and start breathing new life into it by saying...

I was there, in the path of totality, and in spite of clouds blocking it half the time, I managed to get some halfway decent photos with my 300mm Telephoto Lens & Canon T3i body, the same setup I used in 2017. This eclipse was much more photogenic than that one, possibly because we're close to peak solar activity in the Sun's 11 year cycle. I think I struck a good balance in the exposure settings to capture both the bright white corona & the little pink prominences dotting the rim.

I will say that, because of the weather, I should've focused more on documenting the strange ground phenomena that occur during totality, particularly the 360° twilight around the entire horizon. Since I was witnessing it at my family's ranch, I'll never see stuff like that again at that personal location. Maybe I should've bought one of those 360° cameras & put it on 10m/30ft tall monopod. Damn. Maybe I'll do that the next time I see one somewhere else in the world. Maybe in Spain in 2026?

But knowing my luck, the strong wind would've knocked over that extra tall camera stand & smashed apart the $400+ Panoramic Camera on top of it. If I'd been flying a $500+ Drone up there, that wind would've knocked it out of the sky.

Remember that a Total Solar Eclipse creates a rapidly moving massive cold spot in its penumbra, which literally generates its own temporary weather, so you'll get fast winds no matter where you witness it. Well, unless you're behind stuff, but that'll block your view of the horizon.

[zurcnaaitsirhc]

2024 Eclipse Solar Prominences Playlist

[quiltofstars]

The Sun on September 15, 2023 // Robert Schumann

[llamagoddessofficial]

I am already in love with the idea of Eclipse, and I am quite intrigued by the fact that it doesn’t respond at all to being called Nightmare. Is this because it is controlled a little more by Dream? Or is there another reason for it?

Also, are there other facts about him we may hear, pretty please?

OF COURSE you may hear more facts, dear Val. I've pondered up a few more things.

It uses he, they and it pronouns.

It seems very elegant and godlike. A combination of its intimidating stature, its overpowering aura, and how silent it can be when it chooses. It's eyelights can feel like they're nailing you to the ground.

When it's with someone it wants to talk to... say, a friend or lover... it's actually kinda silly?

It likes harmless pranks, it loves bad jokes. Its humour can be borderline childish - as if someone in there is trying to relive something. It adores anyone who engages with its antics, even a little, and telling it a joke of your own is a surefire way to draw its attention.

It likes animals and food, art and music, it has a fondness for gardening. Particularly trees.

Cats absolutely adore it, no matter the universe.

When it's feeling a particularly strong feeling, strange almost imperceptible shimmers of deep ruby red colour will start emanating from it. Like solar prominences.

It likes to stare. A lot.

... Though it knows it shouldn't, sometimes it uses its total knowledge of the emotions of others to say incredibly specific, deep cutting things out of nowhere. After an hour of silence, it looks right at you and says "i think she would be very proud of you."

No one's really sure if it's its own new entity, or a combination of Dream and Nightmare. Perhaps something in the middle. It doesn't seem to bear any ill will toward anyone the brothers disliked - though it definitely retains their old attachments, frequently following around people either one found important.

Despite how calm it looks, it possesses a deep and frightening protectiveness of those important to it. Its loved ones should never be in danger, not even for a moment. If it senses a desire to cause harm to anyone it loves, it doesn't hesitate to kill.

The reason it doesn't respond to Nightmare is unknown. Nightmare is very clearly in there, in the mannerisms and voice, in the interests and faint blue shimmer when its magic is observed from the right angle.

Perhaps he's enjoying finally resting, after all this time?

[pangeen]

“ solar prominences “ // simon2940

Music:  M83 - Outro

[paeinovis]

Compiled this lil piece from solar filter I used during the eclipse and plants I grabbed from my friend's parents' yard in Arkansas (they have those cool helicopter seeds we don't have around Florida)! Included Jupiter and Venus symbols on two handheld filters since those planets were very visible during the eclipse, and bits of a cyanotype I did the day before! So all the components are directly related to the eclipse/general area I viewed it from :-)

[evilios]

This is probably a very niche thing to notice but I like it when I can hear the shadow of people's mother tongue or the language they grew up hearing the most in their family when they speak English. Like oh sweetheart that didn't kill it in you. 🧡

[jellystarcreations]

Totality

Last week was my first time viewing a solar eclipse. It was easily one of the most magical moments of my entire life

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

Imagine KC finally breaks down over Blood Moon’s death and Moon has to comfort him over it. Sure, KC is this big scary monster but Moon can feel his grief being in the same body and Moon finds the newest of the twins’ backups and uploads it to a body for his grieving headmate.

KC swears up and down ‘he’ll repay him for giving him back his sons, any price, he’ll do anything Moon asks’ and all Moon asks is for him to just stop trying to destroy the world. So he does. KC does give up on it to stay in agreement with Moon, even untangles their codes to be separated so Moon can finally be alone in his body.

And KC is a wonderful father, doting on Solar Flare, Blood Moon, and Harvest Moon, the twins of which are going through all their having-a-father firsts again. It’s all lovely domestic family time together with Sun, Moon, Lunar, KC, Flare, Blood, and Harvest in the daycare. To the point they don’t realize they’ve forgotten about Eclipse until Lunar brings up Good Eclipse and how nice he is to visit.

This sets of a panicked chain reaction as everyone realizes they’ve forgotten about Eclipse and ‘what is he planning!? he’s been alone for almost two months now!’ So KC takes Moon and Blood Moon for backup going to his old bunker. They expect to find it deserted or maybe Eclipse plotting but no.

They find him in his own body in the lab that was shut down for the last month. Eclipse has a little one month old animatronic he’s shushing to calm and offering a bottle. When they all come in, Eclipse becomes the most feral they’ve ever seen him. Rays pulled in, growling and hissing a storm, even brandishes a pipe at KC when he comes close, hiding the baby animatronic from view.

They ask why he’s so scared and where did the baby animatronic come from and Eclipse growls more but tells them ‘I made him because everyone left me again, you can’t take him away from me too’. They have to slowly convince Eclipse to come to the daycare with his new baby.

Eclipse is fiercely protective of baby Prominence, he won’t let them hold him at all, he refuses to let anyone else hold him because he’s terrified of Prominence being taken away like everyone else left him over and over. Eclipse is overworking himself being the sole caregiver to Prominence but he won’t allow help due to his fears.

One day he’s just so exhausted he absentmindedly hands Prominence to Monty, the first ever person to hold him besides Eclipse, and promptly falls asleep standing against Monty. Monty has to carry both of them back to the daycare and everyone is puzzled exactly how in the world Monty was able to be the first person to hold Prominence, though Eclipse randomly falling asleep from exhaustion is normal now for them and KC tucks his son in to sleep in bed.

Monty sits with Eclipse while he’s sleeping, so that Eclipse doesn’t panic when he wakes up and can’t find Prominence. After this incident, Eclipse starts tentatively handing his son off to sleep if Promy isn’t asleep yet. Everyone finally gets to bond with Prominence and Eclipse slowly works back up to trusting them again.

[fuzzychief]

Captured Baily's beads, prominences, and the chromoshere.

[quiltofstars]

The Sun on January 28, 2024 // YvesB

[oldfrankland]

Limb Flare in progress  Jim Ferreira

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]