FIRST SDO/AIA OBSERVATION OF SOLAR PROMINENCE FORMATION FOLLOWING AN ERUPTION: MAGNETIC DIPS AND SUSTAINED CONDENSATION AND DRAINAGE
- Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory, Building 252, 3251 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94304 (United States)
- High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307 (United States)
Imaging solar coronal condensation forming prominences was difficult in the past, a situation recently changed by Hinode and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). We present the first example observed with the SDO/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, in which material gradually cools through multiple EUV channels in a transequatorial loop system that confines an earlier eruption. Nine hours later, this leads to eventual condensation at the dips of these loops, forming a moderate-size prominence of {approx}10{sup 14} g, to be compared to the characteristic 10{sup 15} g mass of a coronal mass ejection (CME). The prominence mass is not static but maintained by condensation at a high estimated rate of 10{sup 10} g s{sup -1} against a comparable, sustained drainage through numerous vertical downflow threads, such that 96% of the total condensation ({approx}10{sup 15} g) is drained in approximately one day. The mass condensation and drainage rates temporally correlate with the total prominence mass. The downflow velocity has a narrow Gaussian distribution with a mean of 30 km s{sup -1}, while the downward acceleration distribution has an exponential drop with a mean of {approx}1/6 g{sub Sun }, indicating a significant canceling of gravity, possibly by the Lorentz force. Our observations show that a macroscopically quiescent prominence is microscopically dynamic, involving the passage of a significant mass through it, maintained by a continual mass supply against a comparable mass drainage, which bears important implications for CME initiation mechanisms in which mass unloading is important.
- OSTI ID:
- 22048078
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 745, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
ANALYSIS OF CORONAL RAIN OBSERVED BY IRIS , HINODE /SOT, AND SDO /AIA: TRANSVERSE OSCILLATIONS, KINEMATICS, AND THERMAL EVOLUTION
SDO/AIA observations of a partially erupting prominence