All prominences are dim compared with the surface of the Sun. If the
surface is occluded by the Moon, prominences are visible to the naked
eye. Outside of rather exotic optical systems, there is no way to block
the surface of the Sun from the ground well enough to see prominences,
so the only way pre-technological people would have seen prominences
would have been during total solar eclipses.
We see prominence images made through narrow band filters, typically
H-alpha, where the prominence is bright compared with the surface (or
more accurately, nearly all of the prominence light is passed, and
nearly all of the surface light is blocked).
Chris
*******************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com
On 6/8/2011 1:33 AM, Robert A. Juhl wrote:
To: Sterling K. Webb, Count, List
Would a flare of that size have been visible to ancient naked-eye
observers if it had occurred during totality of an eclipse or if they
had been observing its reflection in a pan of water, etc.?
Regards
Robert A. Juhl, Tokyo
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