A Huge Solar Filament Erupts
			
		
		
		
			Click the arrow and watch an unusually long filament explode out from the Sun.  
The 
filament had been seen hovering over the 
Sun's surface for over a week before it erupted earlier this month.  
The 
image sequence 
was taken by the Earth-orbiting 
Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) in one color of 
ultraviolet light specifically emitted by helium, and
another color of X-ray light specifically emitted by iron. 
The explosion created 
Coronal 
Mass Ejections which dispersed high energy plasma into the Solar System.  
This plasma cloud, though, missed the Earth and so did not cause auroras.  
The above eruption 
and an unusually 
expansive eruption that occurred in August are showing how widely separated areas of the 
Sun can sometimes act in unison.  
Explosions like this will likely become more common over the next few years as our Sun moves toward 
Solar Maximum activity.