December's Eruptive Prominence

December began with an enormous magnetic filament wrapped around the sun's south pole. On Friday, Dec. 4th, it erupted. NASA's twin STEREO probes, stationed on nearly opposite sides of the sun, photographed the blast from two points of view. Click on the image to set the scene in motion:

(Astronomers have been monitoring eruptive prominences like this one for decades, but only now are they getting the 3D view provided by STEREO.)

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Astronomy
• SOHO
• Solar
• Sun
• Prominence
• December
• STEREO
• SpaceWeather