Abstract
We describe a partial filament eruption on 11 December 2011 that demonstrates that the inclusion of mass is an important next step for understanding solar eruptions. Observations from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory-Behind (STEREO-B) and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft were used to remove line-of-sight projection effects in filament motion and correlate the effect of plasma dynamics with the evolution of the filament height. Flux cancellation and nearby flux emergence are shown to have played a role in increasing the height of the filament prior to eruption. The two viewpoints allow the quantitative estimation of a large mass-unloading, the subsequent radial expansion, and the eruption of the filament to be investigated. A 1.8 to 4.1 lower-limit ratio between gravitational and magnetic-tension forces was found. We therefore conclude that following the loss-of-equilibrium of the flux-rope, the radial expansion of the flux-rope was restrained by the filamentary material until 70% of the mass had evacuated the structure through mass-unloading.
Highlights
Multi-wavelength observations of the solar atmosphere reveal different features and phenomena depending on the emission/absorption characteristics of the material that is being observed
Filaments and prominences show a minor preference to form with an average latitude of ±25◦ due to the presence of the highly sheared field across the polarity inversion line (PIL) of active regions, but they are seen to exist at higher latitudes (Mackay, Gaizauskas, and Yeates, 2008; McIntosh et al, 2014)
The image was successively smoothed by 1000 iterations of a 4.5 -width window to reduce the noise in the region of interest (ROI)
Summary
Multi-wavelength observations of the solar atmosphere reveal different features and phenomena depending on the emission/absorption characteristics of the material that is being observed. Filaments and prominences show a minor preference to form with an average latitude of ±25◦ due to the presence of the highly sheared field across the polarity inversion line (PIL) of active regions, but they are seen to exist at higher latitudes (Mackay, Gaizauskas, and Yeates, 2008; McIntosh et al, 2014). Their difference in appearance is attributed to being different projections that are due to the parameters employed in observations, but they are fundamentally the same phenomena. For a more in-depth review of filament and prominence observations see Parenti (2014)
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