A giant sun eruption was captured on camera by a NASA spacecraft on Friday as the sun unleashed a giant eruption of hot plasma.
According to the Space.com, the giant sun eruption took place at 1 a.m. EST (0600 GMT). NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), captured a high-definition video of the sun eruption, also known as a solar prominence.
"The red-glowing looped material is plasma, a hot gas made of electrically charged hydrogen and helium," officials with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, which oversees the SDO mission, explained in a description.
"The prominence plasma flows along a tangled and twisted structure of magnetic fields generated by the sun's internal dynamo. An erupting prominence occurs when such a structure becomes unstable and bursts outward, releasing the plasma."
The giant sun eruption was appears to not have been aimed at Earth, so it will likely have little effect on our planet, according to the report.
The sun is currently in the middle of an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle. The current cycle is called Solar Cycle 24 and is expected to peak in 2013.
