This eruptive prominence lifted off from the Sun (Sept. 15, 2010) and shows off the strands of plasma in exquisite detail. SDO caught the action in extreme ultraviolet light. Prominences are cooler clouds of gases suspended above the Sun by often unstable magnetic forces. Their eruptions are fairly common, but this one was larger and clearer to see than most.
Search Tag(s): 304, prominence, eruption