Eiffel Tower Prominence on the Sun

Explanation: What's that on the Sun? Although it may look like a flowing version of the Eiffel Tower , it is a solar prominence that is actually much bigger -- about the height of Jupiter . The huge prominence emerged about ten days ago, hovered over the Sun's surface for about two days, and then erupted -- throwing a coronal mass ejection (CME) into the Solar System. The featured video , captured from the astrophotographer's backyard in Hendersonville , Tennessee , USA, shows an hour time-lapse played both forwards and backwards. That CME did not impact the Earth, but our Sun had unleashed other recent CMEs that not only triggered Earthly auroras , but puffed out the Earth's atmosphere enough to cause just-launched Starlink satellites to fall back . Activity on the Sun, including sunspots , prominences , CMEs and flare s, continues to increase as the Sun evolves away from a deep minimum in its 11-year magnetic cycle .

Birthday Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (post 1995)