A Twisted Solar Eruptive Prominence
			
		
		
		
			A huge eruptive prominence is seen moving out from our 
Sun in this condensed half-hour time-lapse sequence.  
Ten Earths could easily fit in the "claw" of 
this seemingly solar monster.  
This large prominence, though, is significant 
not only for its size, but its shape.  
The twisted figure eight shape 
indicates that a complex 
magnetic field threads 
through the emerging 
solar particles. 
Recent evidence of differential rotation inside the
Sun might help account for the surface explosion.  
The sequence was taken early in the year 2000 by the 
Sun-orbiting 
SOHO satellite.  
Although large prominences 
and energetic 
Coronal Mass Ejections 
(CMEs) are relatively rare, 
they are occurred more frequently near 
Solar Maximum, the time of 
peak sunspot and 
solar activity in the eleven-year 
solar cycle.