Prominences are ... What are the danger of prominences?

The article describes what a solar protuberance is, what it can be dangerous for people and by what criteria is classified.

The sun

Life on our planet has existed for almost 4 billion years, and the reasons for its emergence and continue to exist, a huge number. This is the climate, the gas composition of the atmosphere, the period of revolution of the planet around its axis, the force of its attraction and, of course, the distance from the Sun. The earth is in the so-called habitation zone, that is, at the optimal distance from the luminary, which ensures the comfort of most biological species. And what happens to planets located too close to the central star of the system, you can see the example of Mercury - it is completely burned and empty.

As we can see, all these factors form an extremely complex and branched system, all elements of which must maintain their delicate balance so that the history of the development of living organisms on our planet continues.

Prominences

But, of course, there are many obvious and hidden dangers that can deprive this system of the necessary balance. And on the Sun there are often processes that can be dangerous for all life and not only. For example, the so-called solar or magnetic storms. They often suffer meteosensitive people and various techniques. During such storms from the Sun protuberances come off and rush to the nearest planets. Fortunately, most of them are not so great as to lead to tragic consequences. What are the danger of prominence, and what is it? We will talk about this in this article.

Definition

Prominence refers to dense condensations of a cooler substance, compared with the rest of the surface of the Sun. During periods of activity they rise above the surface of the star and are held there by its magnetic field. Simply put, prominences are giant fountains of red-hot solar matter that are held by the attraction of a star. But sometimes in times of especially strong solar activity, plasma flows fly out of the solar photosphere and rush in all directions, including toward our planet. This phenomenon is called a magnetic or solar storm.

Description

One of the first scientific references to prominences is associated with a solar eclipse that occurred in 1185. But due to the imperfection of instruments and the poor development of astrophysics, the scientific study of prominences began in the middle of the 19th century. In 1868, Pierre Jansen, using a new method of observing this phenomenon without a solar eclipse, concluded that they exist in the gaseous state.

Because of their nature, prominences are something that could be studied well, using only the achievements of scientific and technical progress: slow motion and artificial near-Earth observation satellites.

They are clearly visible during solar eclipses of a complete nature. Behind such phenomena are observed through special devices: prominences-telescopes, filters, coronagraphs, chromospheric telescopes and others. If we consider the projection of prominences on the disk of the Sun, they look like dark elongated fibers of various thicknesses. So prominences are a phenomenon that can be observed with a conventional telescope only during a total solar eclipse.

With what solar prominences are, in fact, we figured out, now consider their types.

Kinds

Speaking of appearance, the prominences are tiny structures that resemble filaments or clots of plasma of various shapes. They also constantly move and change their shape. Their classification is carried out by dynamic or morphological features. Let us consider their classification according to the external form, the features of the motion of matter and velocity:

• Calm . In them, the substance moves most slowly. The form is also changing very slowly. If we talk about the time of their life, it is from several weeks to several months. Occur in all heliographic latitudes. Most often, they can be observed near the sunspots of the late stage of development. The temperature is about 15,000 degrees Celsius.
• Active . Such a prominence, the photo of which can be seen below, differs in that the plasma flows from the base of the geyser towards the photosphere, as well as from one prominence to another, move at a very high speed. Their temperature is 25,000 degrees Celsius. And by the way, many active prominences are formed from quiet, but in this case their existence time ranges from a few minutes to a day.

• Eruptive . If we talk about appearance, then most of these prominences resemble huge fountains more than 1.5 million kilometers high above the surface of our luminary. The speed of plasma movement reaches hundreds of kilometers per hour, and their shape changes very quickly. They do not last long, but as they increase in height, they gradually dissipate completely.
• Hinged protuberances appear as small clouds above the chromosphere. Usually they eventually merge into one large cloud, which then emits a jet of hot gas towards the chromosphere. There are such phenomena rarely more than a few hours.

So now we know that the solar corona has prominences, and what their kinds exist.

Theory of origin

Despite the fact that solar activity has been studied for a very long time, there is as yet no single and complete theory that would explain the occurrence of prominences and all other related phenomena. Partially all this is explained by the combined effect of electric and magnetic force with the gravity of the Sun.

The chemical composition of the prominence clearly corresponds to the layer from which it was formed. But the physical conditions of the existence of the phenomenon are often associated with the chemical composition. For example, in the spectrum of quiet protuberances, hydrogen lines, ionized calcium , predominate . And in those that are associated with sunspots, the lines of various metals are most clearly distinguished.

The fact of the long existence of some of their varieties indicates that the substance is retained by the magnetic force of the star. This assumption was confirmed by a number of spectroscopic observations.

Danger

As we have already analyzed, the prominence is an element of the activity of the chromosphere of the sun and some of its physical processes. First of all, the danger is represented by those that are detached from the surface of the star and rush into interstellar space. Depending on the strength, they can disable satellites in the Earth's orbit and even kill the ISS crew. Reacting with the magnetosphere of our planet, prominences also form powerful magnetic storms that adversely affect the health of meteosensitive people, interfere with the operation of radio communication systems and various electronic equipment. Fortunately, prominences that are able to detach from the surface of the Sun and cause such harm, are extremely rare.

But, if we consider the most sad variant, when the protuberance will have a large size, it can greatly damage the atmosphere of our planet or completely destroy all life.