Solar Ballet on the Sun

Sometimes, the Sun itself seems to dance. NASA's Sun-orbiting Solar Dynamic Observatory spacecraft imaged some impressive eruptions from the Sun's surface. The dramatic explosions were captured in ultraviolet light in the video below.

Of particular interest is the tangled magnetic field that directs a type of solar ballet for the hot plasma as it falls back to the Sun. The scale of the disintegrating prominences is huge -- the entire Earth would easily fit under the flowing curtain of hot gas.

Clips, images credit: NASA/SDO