... e plumes of plasma (such as filaments and prominences) occur above the visible surface of the Sun, and are seen in the upper chromosphere and lower transition region. The bright areas show high-density regions of plasma. ...

Illustration of the Sun's atmosphere, made visible during a total solar eclipse. The Sun's atmosphere consists of the chromosphere and a much more tenuous and significantly hotter corona (meaning 'crown'). Neither is directly visible from Earth becau...

... e plumes of plasma (such as filaments and prominences) occur above the visible surface of the Sun, and are seen in the upper chromosphere and lower transition region. The bright areas show high-density regions of plasma. ...

Digital illustration of the solar atmosphere revealed during a total eclipse of the Sun. A large flare or a coronal mass ejection is seen on the left. This image was commissioned for the cover of the journal Nature for an annual feature called Nature...

Illustration of a coronal mass ejection emanating from the Sun. These events, CMEs for short, are powerful releases of solar charged particles (plasma) and magnetic field, travelling on the solar wind. When a CME hits Earth, it can cause a geomagneti...