An elongated solar prominence rose up above the Sun and slowly unraveled over 17 hours (Feb. 3, 2016). Prominences are clouds of gas suspended above the Sun by magnetic forces. You can see the plasma streaming along the magnetic field lines before it thins out and gradually breaks away from its tethers. The images were taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA.
Search Tag(s): aia, 304, prominence