August 27, 2024: Bright detached prom in H-alpha

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Just had the Coronado SolarMax-II 60 mm out on my morning tea break, and there is a lot going on. A large number of big ARs dot the western half of the disk, with some bright plage areas surrounding the biggest sunspot. The eastern half is less crowed, with a lone AR plus the odd filament. The show was however stolen by a very bright detached prom, around about the 4:30 position, at a surprising distance from the disk, showing up as a compact, slightly elongated blob of plasma. I cannot recall seeing a brighter one, especially at such a distance from the limb. It also remains bright as you move from blue to red wing of the H-alpha line, suggesting a lot of (turbulent) motion within it. Well worth a look.