Solar Prominent

Solar prominences are massive arcs of plasma suspended in the Sun’s corona by twisted magnetic field lines rooted in regions of strong magnetic activity, often near sunspots.

They form when dense, cooler plasma becomes trapped in magnetic flux ropes, supported against gravity by magnetic tension.

These structures can persist for days to several weeks, with quiescent prominences lasting longest before being reabsorbed into the corona as magnetic fields stabilize, while unstable ones erupt when magnetic reconnection releases stored energy, flinging plasma into space as a coronal mass ejection (CME).

Their stability depends on magnetic shear and the surrounding coronal field configuration, with eruption timing linked to the rate of magnetic flux emergence and cancellation at their footpoints.