Last week, the moon cast daylight briefly away as it slid precisely between the sun and Earth. If you watched the resulting total solar eclipse – either in person (lucky you!) or on one of the many live broadcasts – you may have noticed the enormous fountain of gas that appeared to be erupting from the sun’s edge.

Called a prominence, the glowing spray was easily visible when the sun was still a crescent, long before the moon blotted out its light. Then, as the sun briefly disappeared, the prominence blazed into view along with the fiery halo of the sun’s corona.

Though I’ve seen a few eclipses before, I was completely unprepared for how striking the sight was.