Club member John De La Mare took this fantastic photo of solar prominences on 8th June 2015.
A prominence is a large, bright, gaseous feature extending outward from the Sun's surface, often in a loop shape. Prominences are anchored to the Sun's surface in the photosphere, and extend outwards into the Sun's corona. While the corona consists of extremely hot ionized gases, known as plasma, which do not emit much visible light, prominences contain much cooler plasma, similar in composition to that of the chromosphere.
A typical prominence extends over many thousands of kilometers; the largest on record was estimated at over 800,000 kilometres (500,000 mi) long – roughly the radius of the Sun.
Warning note: you need telescopes with special solar filters to observe the sun. Use of a telescope without special solar filters can cause eye damage, and we would advise seeking advice from our far more expert local astronomers - like John or Neil Mahrer first. A telescope with a finder still attached can also be hazardous as the finderscope can also magnify the sun's light onto the astronomer's forehead.
A prominence is a large, bright, gaseous feature extending outward from the Sun's surface, often in a loop shape. Prominences are anchored to the Sun's surface in the photosphere, and extend outwards into the Sun's corona. While the corona consists of extremely hot ionized gases, known as plasma, which do not emit much visible light, prominences contain much cooler plasma, similar in composition to that of the chromosphere.
A typical prominence extends over many thousands of kilometers; the largest on record was estimated at over 800,000 kilometres (500,000 mi) long – roughly the radius of the Sun.
Warning note: you need telescopes with special solar filters to observe the sun. Use of a telescope without special solar filters can cause eye damage, and we would advise seeking advice from our far more expert local astronomers - like John or Neil Mahrer first. A telescope with a finder still attached can also be hazardous as the finderscope can also magnify the sun's light onto the astronomer's forehead.