The highlight clip this week features the writhing motions of a developing prominence that quickly breaks away from the Sun with a graceful twist (March 25, 2006). Over a one-day period this close-up portrays the action near the Sun's edge at a high-cadence (one frame every 12 minutes). A spectral line of singly-ionized helium at 304 ?ngstroms shows the state of the solar plasma at roughly 60,000 C.

Prominences are clouds of unstable, cooler gas held by magnetic fields above the Sun's surface. Some of these last for just hours and others for many days. As can be seen, this one was rather short-lived.

Previous Picks of the Week

SOHO began its Weekly Pick some time after sending a weekly image or video clip to the American Museum of Natural History (Rose Center) in New York City. There, the SOHO Weekly Pick is displayed with some annotations on a large plasma display.

If your institution would also like to receive the same Weekly Pick from us for display (usually in Photoshop or QuickTime format), please send your inquiry to steele.hill@gsfc.nasa.gov.