Subj : Daily APOD Report
To   : All
From : Alan Ianson
Date : Wed Mar 02 2022 00:25:50

                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2022 March 2

                  Record Prominence Imaged by Solar Orbiter
    Image Credit: Solar Orbiter, EUI Team, ESA & NASA; h/t: Bum-Suk Yeom

   Explanation: What's happened to our Sun? Last month, it produced the
   largest prominence ever imaged together with a complete solar disk. The
   record image, featured, was captured in ultraviolet light by the
   Sun-orbiting Solar Orbiter spacecraft. A quiescent solar prominence is
   a cloud of hot gas held above the Sun's surface by the Sun's magnetic
   field. This solar prominence was huge -- spanning a length rivaling the
   diameter of the Sun itself. Solar prominences may erupt unpredictably
   and expel hot gas into the Solar System via a Coronal Mass Ejection
   (CME). When a CME strikes the Earth and its magnetosphere, bright
   auroras may occur. This prominence did produce a CME, but it was
   directed well away from the Earth. Although surely related to the Sun's
   changing magnetic field, the energy mechanism that creates and sustains
   a solar prominence remains a topic of research.

                 Tomorrow's picture: spiral galaxy NGC 2841
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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