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Twisting Outburst

Aug. 20, 2018
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows a minor eruption of charged particles rising up and twisting about before falling back into the Sun in this close-up of the Sun from a two-hour period on Aug. 13, 2018.

This close-up of the Sun from a two-hour period on Aug. 13, 2018 shows a minor eruption of charged particles rising up and twisting about before falling back into the Sun. Imaged in extreme ultraviolet light, these kinds of events are difficult to see except when they occur along the sun's edge, also known as the limb. At its peak the plasma rises several times the diameter of Earth.

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PIA22673_Small_prom_spin_big.mp4
PIA22673_Small_prom_spin_sm.mp4

SDO is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Its Atmosphere Imaging Assembly was built by the Lockheed Martin Solar Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), Palo Alto, California.

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