Solar "Tsunami": Giant Double Sun Eruption Caught on Video
One more sign that "the sun is in its most active state."
NASA's space-based Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded the images over a four-hour period. The giant loops, called solar prominences, occurred between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. ET on Friday.
Many times larger than the entire Earth, the prominences were so large that they expanded beyond the high-definition camera view of the SDO. (See some of SDO's first sun pictures.)
In the video, hot waves of charged gas—released when tangled solar magnetic fields destabilized and exploded before reconnecting again—arc away from the sun in vast red loops, according to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
Both solar prominences will likely have little to no effect on Earth, as they don't appear to be aimed toward the planet.
These giant arcs are the latest
