solar prominence

The first detailed description of a solar prominence was in 14th-century Laurentian Codex, describing the solar eclipse of May 1, 1185. They were described as "flame-like tongues of live embers".{{cite web |url= https://www2.hao.ucar.edu/Education/solar-physics-historical-timeline-0-1599#1185 |title= 1185: The first description of solar prominences |author= |date= 2008 |website= Solar Physics Historical Timeline (0–1599) |publisher= High Altitude Observatory }}{{cite web |url= http://www.astro.umontreal.ca/~paulchar/grps/histoire/newsite/sp/great_moments_e.html |title= 1185: The first description of solar prominences |author= |date= 2008 |website= Great Moments in the History of Solar Physics |publisher= Université de Montréal |access-date= 30 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402122706/http://thebookofbeginnings.com/sources/4/HistoryofSolarPhysics.pdf |archive-date=2 April 2015}}{{cite web |last1=Poitevin |first1=Patrick |last2=Edmonds |first2=Joanne |title=Solar Eclipse Newsletter |url=http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SENL/SENL200305.pdf |access-date=30 March 2015 |volume=8 |number=5 |date=2003}}

Prominences were first photographed during the solar eclipse of July 18, 1860, by Angelo Secchi. From these photographs, altitude, emissivity, and many other important parameters were able to be derived for the first time.{{cite book |last1=Secchi |first1=Angelo |title=Le Soleil, Part 1 |date=1870 |location=Paris |publisher=Gauthier-Villars |page=378| url=https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=V-gRAAAAYAAJ&rdid=book-V-gRAAAAYAAJ&rdot=1}}

During the solar eclipse of August 18, 1868, spectroscopes were for the first time able to detect the presence of emission lines from prominences. The detection of a hydrogen line confirmed that prominences were gaseous in nature. Pierre Janssen was also able to detect an emission line corresponding to an at the time unknown element now known as helium. The following day, Janssen confirmed his measurements by recording the emission lines from the now unobstructed Sun, a task that had never been done before. Using his new techniques, astronomers were able to study prominences daily.{{cite book |last1=Vial |first1=Jean-Claude |last2=Engvold |first2=Oddbjørn |title=Solar Prominences |date=2015 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-10415-7}}

File:BBSO H-alpha solar disk 2002-07-24 labeled.png

Historically, any feature that was visible extending above the surface of the sun, including solar spicules, coronal loops, and some coronal mass ejections, was considered a solar prominence. Today, due to a better understanding of the diversity of these phenomena, most of these are classified separately, and the word prominence is primarily used to refer to larger and cooler features.{{cite book |first1=Jean-Claude |last1=Vial |first2=Oddbjørn |last2=Engvold |date=2015 |title=Solar prominences |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-10416-4 |location=Cham Heielberg New York Dordrecht London |publisher=Springer |pages=33–37 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-10416-4 |isbn=978-3-319-10416-4 }}

There are a number of different prominence classification schemes in use today. One of the most widely used and basic schemes classifies prominences based on the magnetic environment in which they had formed. There are three classes:

• Active region prominences, or active region filaments, form within the relatively strong magnetic fields at the centers of active regions. Active region prominences have lifetimes ranging from hours to days and erupt more often than prominences belonging to the other classes.{{cite journal |last1=Mackay |first1=D. H. |last2=Karpen |first2=J. T. |author2-link=Judy Karpen|last3=Ballester |first3=J. L. |last4=Schmieder |first4=B. |last5=Aulanier |first5=G. |title=Physics of Solar Prominences: II – Magnetic Structure and Dynamics |journal=Space Science Reviews |date=April 2010 |volume=151 |issue=4 |pages=333–399 |doi=10.1007/s11214-010-9628-0|arxiv=1001.1635|bibcode=2010SSRv..151..333M |s2cid=118391089 }} As a consequence of being located within active regions, active region prominences are usually found in low heliographic latitudes.{{cite journal |last1=Menzel |first1=Donald H. |last2=Jones |first2=F. Shirley |title=Solar Prominence Activity, 1944–1954 |journal=Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada |date=December 1962 |volume=56 |page=193 |bibcode=1962JRASC..56..193M |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/AD0402858|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602215141/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/AD0402858|url-status=live|archive-date=June 2, 2021}}{{cite journal |last1=Minarovjech |first1=M. |last2=Rybanský |first2=M. |last3=Rušin |first3=V. |title=Time-Latitude Prominence and the Green Corona Distribution over the Solar Activity Cycle |journal=International Astronomical Union Colloquium |date=1998 |volume=167 |pages=484–487 |doi=10.1017/S0252921100048132|doi-access=free }}
• Intermediate prominences, or intermediate filaments, form between a weak unipolar plage regions and active regions.
• Quiescent prominences, or quiescent filaments, form in the weak background magnetic field far from any active regions.{{cite journal |last1=Engvold |first1=Oddbjørn |title=Observations of Filament Structure and Dynamics |journal=International Astronomical Union Colloquium |date=1998 |volume=167 |pages=22–31 |doi=10.1017/S0252921100047229|doi-access=free }} Unlike active region prominences, quiescent prominences are relatively stable and can have lifetimes ranging from weeks to months, hence the name {{wikt-lang|en|quiescent}}. Quiescent prominences are typically located at high latitudes around what is referred to as the polar crown. Additionally, quiescent prominences generally reach much greater heights in the corona than active region prominences.

Active region and quiescent prominences can also be differentiated by their emitted spectra. The spectra of active region prominences is identical to that of the upper chromosphere having strong He II lines but very weak ionized metal lines. On the other hand, the spectra of quiescent prominences is identical to the spectra measured at {{cvt|1500|km|mi}} in the chromosphere with strong H, He I, and ionized metal lines, but weak He II lines.{{cite journal |last1=Zirin |first1=Harold |last2=Tandberg-Hanssen |first2=Einar |title=Physical Conditions in Limb Flares and Active Prominences. IV. Comparison of Active and Quiescent Prominences |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |date=1960 |volume=131 |pages=717–724 |doi=10.1086/146884 |bibcode=1960ApJ...131..717Z |url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1960ApJ...131..717Z|doi-access=free }}

Prominences form in magnetic structures known as filament channels where they are thermally shielded from the surrounding corona and supported against gravity. These channels are found in the chromosphere and lower corona above divisions between regions of opposite photospheric magnetic polarity known as polarity inversion lines (PIL).{{efn|Divisions between regions of opposite photospheric magnetic polarity are variously referred to as polarity inversion lines (PIL), polarity reversal boundaries (PRB), or neutral lines.}} The presence of a filament channel is a necessary condition for the formation of a prominence, but a filament channel can exist without containing a prominence. Multiple prominences may form and erupt from within one filament channel over the channel's lifetime. The magnetic field making up the filament channel is predominantly horizontal, pointing in the same direction on both sides of the PIL (see {{slink||Chirality}}).{{cite journal |last1=Parenti |first1=Susanna |title=Solar Prominences: Observations |journal=Living Reviews in Solar Physics |date=2014 |volume=11 |issue=1 |page=1 |doi=10.12942/lrsp-2014-1 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2014LRSP...11....1P |s2cid=122831380 |url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.12942/lrsp-2014-1.pdf |access-date=29 January 2022}}{{cite journal |last1=Gibson |first1=Sarah E. |title=Solar prominences: theory and models: Fleshing out the magnetic skeleton |journal=Living Reviews in Solar Physics |date=December 2018 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=7 |doi=10.1007/s41116-018-0016-2 |pmid=30872983 |pmc=6390890 |bibcode=2018LRSP...15....7G |url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s41116-018-0016-2.pdf |access-date=29 January 2022}}{{cite journal |last1=Gaizauskas |first1=V. |title=Filament Channels: Essential Ingredients for Filament Formation |journal=International Astronomical Union Colloquium |date=1998 |volume=167 |pages=257–264 |doi=10.1017/S0252921100047709 |s2cid=124424544 |language=en |issn=0252-9211|doi-access=free }}

Prominence material does not occupy the entire width of the filament channel; a tunnel-like region less dense than the corona, known as a coronal cavity, occupies the volume between the prominence and the overlying magnetic arcade.

Typical prominences have a narrow structure oriented along the filament channel known as a spine. The spine defines the upper main body of a prominence and is generally in the form of a vertical sheet that diverges towards the photosphere at both ends. Many prominences also have smaller structures referred to as barbs that similarly diverge from the spine towards the chromosphere and photosphere. Spines and barbs are both composed of thin threads that trace the magnetic field similar to chromospheric fibrils.

The cool prominence material that makes up spines and barbs—the prominence core—is surrounded by a prominence-corona transition region (PCTR) where there is a steep temperature gradient. The PCTR is responsible for most of the optical emission of prominences.

{{wide image|H-alpha DOT image of a solar filament colored.jpg|600px|caption=H-alpha image of an active region filament showing a spine, two barbs, and chromospheric fibrils oriented parallel to the PIL}}

{{Main|Helmet streamer}}

Above filament channels lie overarching magnetic {{Linktext|arcade}}s which can extend from {{cvt|50000|to|70000|km|mi}} into the corona. Above these arcades, the closed coronal magnetic field may extend radially outward, forming what is known as a helmet streamer.{{cite journal |last1=Guo |first1=W. P. |last2=Wu |first2=S. T. |title=A Magnetohydrodynamic Description of Coronal Helmet Streamers Containing a Cavity |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |date=10 February 1998 |volume=494 |issue=1 |pages=419–429 |doi=10.1086/305196 |bibcode=1998ApJ...494..419G |s2cid=120452722 |doi-access=free }} These streamers may reach a solar radius or more above the Sun's surface.

Filament channels and their prominence, if present, exhibit chirality. When observed from the side of the filament channel with positive magnetic polarity, the channel is said to be {{wikt-lang|en|dextral}} if the horizontal magnetic field is oriented rightward and {{wikt-lang|en|sinistral}} if it is oriented leftward. Dextral channels have been found more frequently in the Sun's northern hemisphere and sinistral channels more frequently in the southern hemisphere.

The horizontally oriented magnetic field causes chromospheric fibrils along the filament channel to lie nearly parallel to the PIL and anti-parallel to one another on opposite sides of the PIL. The directions that these fibrils are oriented depend on the chirality of the channel. On the side of the PIL with positive magnetic polarity, dextral channels have fibrils which stream to the right and barbs which bear to the right, whereas sinistral channels have fibrils which stream to the left and barbs which bear to the left. Additionally, the overlying magnetic arcades of dextral channels are left-skewed, and those of sinistral channels are right-skewed.

The exact mechanism which leads to the formation of solar prominences is not currently known. Models must be able to explain the formation of the filament channel and its hemisphere-dependent chirality, as well as the origin of the dense plasma that makes up the prominence core.

{{See also|Coronal mass ejection}}

File:Solar prominence.ogv

Some prominences are ejected from the Sun in what is known as a prominence eruption. These eruptions can have speeds ranging from 600 km/s to more than 1000 km/s.{{cite web |url=http://solar.physics.montana.edu/ypop/Program/hfilament.html |title=About Filaments and Prominences |publisher=solar.physics.montana.edu |access-date=2 January 2010}} At least 70% of prominence eruptions are associated with an ejection of coronal material into the solar wind known as a coronal mass ejection.{{cite journal |last1=Gopalswamy |first1=N. |last2=Shimojo |first2=M. |last3=Lu |first3=W. |last4=Yashiro |first4=S. |last5=Shibasaki |first5=K. |last6=Howard |first6=R. A. |title=Prominence Eruptions and Coronal Mass Ejection: A Statistical Study Using Microwave Observations |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |date=20 March 2003 |volume=586 |issue=1 |pages=562–578 |doi=10.1086/367614|bibcode=2003ApJ...586..562G |s2cid=119654267 |doi-access=free }}

• Active region
• Hyder flare
• Solar flare

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite journal |last=Galsgaard |first=K. |author2=Longbottom, A.W. |year=1999 |title=Formation of solar prominences by flux convergence |journal=Astrophysical Journal |volume=510 |issue=1 |pages=444–459 |doi=10.1086/306559 |bibcode=1999ApJ...510..444G|doi-access=free }}
• {{Cite book |last=Golub |first=L. |author2=Pasachoff J.M. |title=The Solar Corona |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1997 |isbn=0-521-48535-5}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Low |first=B.C. |author2=Fong, B. |author3=Fan, Y. |year=2003 |title=The mass of a solar quiescent prominence |journal=Astrophysical Journal |volume=594 |pages=1060 |doi=10.1086/377042 |bibcode=2003ApJ...594.1060L |issue=2|doi-access=free }}
• {{Cite book |last=Tandberg-Hanssen |first=Einar |author-link=Einar Tandberg-Hanssen |year=1995 |title=The Nature of Solar Prominences |location=Dordrecht |publisher=Kluwer Acad. |isbn=978-0792333746}}

• {{Commons category inline|Prominences}}

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