Is This a Solar Flare?" - Investigating Possible Phenomenon

[Neptulin]

Hi everyone! Earlier today I was viewing the Venus transit with the astronomy club at my university and I decided to try to take photos of the event through my 8 megapixel camera phone through the telescope. Of course, the quality wasn't exactly great. The last photo I took of the event was the one attached. The resolution was too low to make out Venus - I could barely see with my eyes at this point and it disappeared from sight completely moments later. I did, however, notice an 'arc' in the picture after I took the photo. I've since zoomed in on it on my laptop and attached it to this post.

While the quality is terrible and the 'event' is almost insignificant compared to the random blur of the camera, the distance it extends from the sun compared to the rest of the 'blur', as well as the gap underneath it, leads me to believe it is actually there and not a result of random error due to the low resolution.

Is this a solar flare? Or is it something else?

I can promise you I'll get a better camera for December 2117!

 

[e^(i Pi)+1=0]

It sure looks like one.

 

[davenn]

Not necessarily, it most likely is just a prominence. Not all prominences are related to flares, I would go as far as saying, through some 30 years of solar observing, that probably 95% of prominences are non flare related

keep an eye on this Helium II image of the Sun where you will see many many prominences

Neptulin ... what filtering was there on the telescope ? Normally you wouldn't see prominences or flares without the appropriate solar filters. The only other time you would normally see prominences on the limb of the Sun would be during a total eclipse of the sun where the brightness of the Sun is blocked out and the prominences become visible

cheers
Dave