Home / Science / NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN: Sun Erupts in Fiery Prominence Show
NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN: Sun Erupts in Fiery Prominence Show
23 Jan
Summary
- A new mission uses an artificial eclipse to view the Sun's corona.
- The Proba-3 mission captured towering prominences erupting into space.
- These prominences are cooler plasma structures in the extremely hot corona.
Never-before-seen footage offers an extraordinary glimpse into the Sun's corona, the star's outer atmosphere. The European Space Agency's Proba-3 mission, launched in December 2024, utilizes a unique method involving two spacecraft to achieve this. One spacecraft acts as an "occulter," mimicking an artificial eclipse by blocking the Sun's bright center. The second spacecraft, a coronagraph, is positioned in the occulter's shadow to capture images of the faint corona.
This groundbreaking technique enabled the capture of a five-hour timelapse on September 2, 2025, revealing stunning details of the solar atmosphere. The footage highlights three massive eruptions of plasma, known as prominences, which extend outwards into space. These prominences, while still extremely hot at around 10,000 degrees Celsius, are significantly cooler than the surrounding corona, which can reach a million degrees Celsius.
The Proba-3 mission's success in capturing these dynamic events so clearly and in rapid succession is a significant achievement for solar observation. The detailed views provided by this mission offer valuable insights into the Sun's complex and energetic phenomena.
