A bright solar prominence rose up from the Sun and twisted around in about a six-hour period (Apr. 21, 2015). While some of the material broke away into space, much of it fell back into the Sun. The images were taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. At its greatest height, the plume extended out many times the size of Earth, allowing numerous amateur astronomers to observe this event with their solar telescopes. Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA.

Sparked by a medium-sized (C-class) flare, a long, magnetic filament burst out from the Sun, producing one of the best shows that the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has seen (Aug. 31, 2012). Viewed in the 304 Angstrom wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light, the filament strand gets stretched outwards until it finally breaks and heads off to the left. Some of the particles from this eruption did hit Earth with a glancing blow on Sept. 3, generating some beautiful aurora. The video clip covers four hours of activity. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18167