Sun Dance
Model: gpt-4.1-mini
Prompt version: 1.0
Sometimes, the surface of our Sun seems to dance.
In the middle of 2012, for example, NASA’s Sun-orbiting Solar Dynamic Observatory spacecraft imaged an impressive solar prominence that seemed to perform a running dive roll like an acrobatic dancer.
The dramatic explosion was captured in ultraviolet astronomy light in the featured time-lapse video covering about three hours. A looping magnetic field directed the flow of hot plasma on the Sun.
The scale of the dancing prominence is huge — the entire Earth would easily fit under the flowing arch of hot gas.
A quiescent prominence typically lasts about a month and may erupt in a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), expelling hot gas into the Solar System.
The energy mechanism that creates a solar prominence is still a topic of research.
Like in 2012, this year the Sun’s surface is again quite active and features many filaments and prominences.