XRT Observes a Filament
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Generally, solar filaments are hard to see in X-ray images. That's
because they're cool, only about 10-20 thousand degrees, while the
coronal plasma which emits X-rays has temperatures in excess of one
million degrees. But the cool filament material is suspended at
very great heights, and so it is surrounded by (and displaces) the
hotter coronal plasma. The larger background image here shows a
filament observed in the hydrogen alpha wavelengths, where the
filament appears as three large dark clouds aligned in the upper
right quadrant of the Sun. The inset image shows XRT's view of
this filament: the cool material doesn't emit X-rays, so it's the
dark channel extending across the middle of the frame.
Image specs: XRT image made in Ti/poly filter, 16 s exposure, 21-July 23:28:17 UT. H-alpha image provided by China's Huairou Solar Observing Station, 21-July, 02:17:15 UT. Keywords: Filament, Visible Light Filters: Ti_poly |
(Prepared by D. McKenzie.)
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