The sun is moving towards its zenith, solar maximum, in its current activity cycle. This progress means potentially more alarming space weather events, as well as more striking visuals forming on the Sun’s surface. An Argentine astrophotographer has managed to capture in perfect detail an event called the Polar Crown Prominence (PCP).
Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau took this stunning photo on March 9. The plasma curtain is visible as it rises 100,000 kilometers above the Sun’s surface. The National Solar Observatory’s Global Oscillating Network Group notified him of the existence of this formation, he said, and set out to take a good photo despite the heat wave and drought that made the atmosphere dusty and turbulent in his area. Using his most powerful telescope, he managed to capture this amazing photo.
“I was determined to get a good shot, so I quickly set up my equipment in my backyard and used my strongest telescope to get a better view,” said Schaberger Poupeau. Being able to observe hundreds of dripping plasma threads left me literally speechless. For the best possible result, I spent about two hours taking pictures, trying to find the moments when the atmospheric balance was highest.”
A post shared by Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau (@eduardoschaberger)
A subtype of solar flares, PCPs are fairly common occurrences on the Sun. Solar flares often appear as rings of incandescent plasma that extend from the photosphere into space and back down. However, PCPs do not tend to cycle, and until relatively recently they were believed to be nearly stationary. Observations from the Japanese Hinode spacecraft 15 years ago showed how active they actually were.
These events occur between 60 and 70 degrees latitude in both hemispheres of the Sun and are called the corona because they can rotate around the polar regions. Like other explosions, PCPs are shaped by magnetic fields. The plasma in these events, following magnetic field lines, flows back to the Sun like a waterfall.
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