THE SUN
▼ Solar prominence, imaged
by the SOHO spacecraft on
14 September 1997. At lower
left is a huge eruptive
prominence. With such active
prominences, material
sometimes escapes from the
Sun completely.▼ Aurora borealis, 20 April
2002; Dominic Cantin, from
l'Ile d'Orléan, 35 km
(22 miles) east of Québec
City, Canada. A coronal
mass ejection on 19 April
triggered a geomagnetic
storm that lasted for nearly
24 hours. The aurora was
seen across northern USA,
Canada and Finland. Active region of the Sun,
imaged by the TRACE
satellite on 19 July 2000. The
filament seen erupting from
the Sun is about 121,000 km
(75,000 miles) long. It is
shaped by the Sun’s
magnetic field.E152-191 UNIVERSE UK 2003mb 7/4/03 5:42 pm Page 163