Giant Solar Prominence Caught On Video

The sun is very harsh environment to say the least. The surface of the sun often interrupts with massive flares and other phenomena that can send radiation hurtling towards the earth. Those eruptions can interfere with television, GPS, and radio broadcasts among other things here on Earth.

The sun had a massive solar prominence last week that was captured on camera by an orbiting NASA spacecraft. The first solar prominence occurred at 1 AM EST with a second occurring four hours later. As you can see in the image, the solar prominence was so massive that part of it was outside the camera's field of view.

The photograph and the video of the massive solar prominence was captured by the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory. The massive red plasma loop was made of electrically charged hydrogen and helium. The good news about the massive eruption that occurred last Friday was that it was not aimed at Earth.

These massive storms have become increasingly common due in part to the fact that the sun is in the middle of its 11 year solar weather cycle most active phase. This particular active phase is expected to peak in 2013. You can check out the video of the giant solar flare below.

[via