On Oct. 24-25, our Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite watched as a solar prominence rose up above the Sun’s surface, twisted around, then became elongated and broke away from the Sun. Prominences are relatively cool clouds of solar material (called plasma) that are tethered above the Sun’s surface by magnetic forces. Although tiny on the scale of the Sun, this prominence stretched out about ten times the diameter of Earth — see Earth inset for scale. These images were taken in a wavelength of

The sun emitted a trio of mid-level solar flares on April 2-3, 2017. Our Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured images of the three events. Read more: https://go.nasa.gov/2oQVFju Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/b0avDc48hPM | NASA Space Alerts

The Sun’s only visible active region sputtered and spurted and eventually unleashed a small solar flare on Feb. 7, captured here by our Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite. The flare appears as a brief, bright flash about midway through the half-day-long clip. Normally, a flare this small might not catch much attention, but solar activity is increasingly rare as the Sun is slowly approaching solar minimum, a natural low point in its 11-year activity cycle. These images were taken in a wavelengt