September 19, 2015
The same forces that sculpt nebulae and spin galaxies into existence were at work the day you were born.
A Prominence on the Sun
Birthday · September 19, 2015
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APOD published September 19, 2015. Credit: Alan Friedman. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
This eerie landscape of incandescent plasma suspended in looping and twisted magnetic fields stretched toward the Sun's eastern horizon on September 16. Captured through a backyard telescope and narrowband filter in light from ionized hydrogen, the scene finds bright plages near dark sunspots and a gigantic prominence lofted above the solar limb. Some 600,000 kilometers across, the magnetized plasma wall would dwarf worlds of the Solar System. Ruling gas giant Jupiter can only boast a diameter of 143,000 kilometers or so, while planet Earth's diameter is less than 13,000 kilometers. Known as a hedgerow prominence for its appearance, the enormous structure is far from stable though, and such large solar prominences often erupt.
Image credit: Alan Friedman