14 DAY TRIAL // Officials at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Space Weather Center, in Greenbelt, Maryland, have just released this short video clip, showing a large solar filament that erupted from the surface of the Sun on Friday, August 31.
The American space agency's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) was on station to observe the event, as always, and managed to catch some beautiful sights at multiple wavelengths. The video above shows the solar event nearly in real time.
According to available data, the filament originated in active region AR 1563. The SDO data included in the video cover a total of 3 hours, and also highlight the devastating effects the plunging filament has when it slams back into the solar surface.
SDO launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on February 11, 2010, aboard an ULA Atlas V delivery system. Its primary science mission is expected to last between 5 and 10 years.