A Filament Leaps from the Sun

Explanation: Why, sometimes, does part of the Sun's atmosphere leap into space? The reason lies in changing magnetic field s that thread through the Sun 's surface. Regions of strong surface magnetism, known as active regions , are usually marked by dark sunspots . Active regions can channel charged gas along arching or sweeping magnetic fields -- gas that sometimes falls back , sometimes escapes , and sometimes not only escapes but impacts our Earth . The featured one-hour time-lapse video -- taken with a small telescope in France -- captured an eruptive filament that appeared to leap off the Sun late last month. The filament is huge: for comparison, the size of the Earth is shown on the upper left. Just after the filament lifted off , the Sun emitted a powerful X-class flare while the surface rumbled with a tremendous solar tsunami . A result was a cloud of charged particles that rushed into our Solar System but mostly missed our Earth -- this time. However, enough solar plasma did impact our Earth's magnetosphere to create a few faint auroras .