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Article: Giving birth to a solar prominence.
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- January 27, 1990
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1990 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Giving birth to a solar prominence
Solar prominences, which often appear as thick ribbons of gas swirling high above the sun's surface, do more than make a pretty picture. When these elongated gas clouds, normally held in place for days or hours by magnetic fields, erupt in the same region as solar flares, they spew out material that carries the sun's high-energy particles into interplanetary space. Researchers know solar prominences can cause geomagnetic storms when they intercept Earth's magnetic field, interfering with communications and electric power transmission. But how the prominences form remains a matter of debate.
The difficulty lies in ...