August 1, 2023
Another birthday means another year in which the universe got to experience itself through your particular combination of wonder and will.
Monster Solar Prominence
Birthday · August 1, 2023
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APOD published August 1, 2023. Credit: Mike Wenz. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
The monsters that live on the Sun are not like us. They are larger than the Earth and made of gas hotter than in any teapot. They have no eyes, but at times, many tentacles. They float. Usually, they slowly change shape and just fade back onto the Sun over about a month. Sometimes, though, they suddenly explode and unleash energetic particles into the Solar System that can attack the Earth. Pictured is a huge solar prominence imaged almost two weeks ago in the light of hydrogen. Captured by a small telescope in Gilbert, Arizona, USA, the monsteresque plume of gas was held aloft by the ever-present but ever-changing magnetic field near the surface of the Sun. Our active Sun continues to show an unusually high number of prominences, filaments, sunspots, and large active regions as solar maximum approaches in 2025.
Image credit: Mike Wenz