This image of the Sun was taken on August 1, 2012 at 1:02 pm,
with a red-light (hydrogen-alpha) telescope. Several dark
sunspots and brighter plages (or clouds of gas in the Sun's
atmosphere) dot the disk. On the left, a dark filament snakes
across the Sun. It's an arch of gas above the Sun, following a
magnetic loop. Interestingly, the filament runs off the edge of
the Sun as we see it, making a small prominence. It is rare to
see a filament connected to a prominence. However, they are the
same phenomenon: a filament is a prominence seen from above.
This image illustrates that they are the same. Telescope: Lunt
60mm Hydrogen-alpha Camera: Lumenera SKYnyx2-2M