What is the term for a loop of gas that protrudes from the sun's surface and links parts of sunspot regions?

A loop of gas that protrudes from the sun's surface and connects different areas of sunspot regions is known as a prominence. These structures are massive and can extend hundreds of thousands of kilometers into space, often appearing as bright arcs or filaments in the solar atmosphere. Prominences are composed primarily of hydrogen and are anchored to the sun’s surface in the photosphere; they can be seen in the chromosphere and corona during solar eclipses or with specialized instruments.

In contrast, a flare is a sudden and intense burst of radiation from the sun’s surface, typically occurring in active regions near sunspots but is not a loop structure. Sunspots are darker, cooler areas on the sun’s surface caused by magnetic activity but do not themselves form the loop. Coronal holes are regions where the sun’s magnetic field lines open out into space, allowing solar wind to escape but do not directly relate to the loop-like structures linking sunspots.