Washington - A massive solar eruption, more than 30 times the length of Earth's diameter, blasted away from the sun on Monday, and a satellite captured graphic images of the event.
The eruption occurred at 13h19 GMT and showed up in a picture taken by one instrument of the SOHO satellite as a fiery-looking "leg" in the lower-left corner of the image, scientists said in a statement.
Pictures taken over the following 90 minutes by another SOHO instrument show a loopy-looking eruption taking place and then dispersing. All images are visible at the SOHO website.
The "leg" is what astronomers call an eruptive prominence, which is a loop of magnetic fields that trap hot gas inside. As this prominence became unstable, it erupted into the area around the sun and appeared to dissipate.
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If eruptions like these are aimed at Earth, they can disturb Earth's magnetosphere, but this one was not directed at our planet, a spokesperson for SOHO said by telephone.
SOHO - short for Solar and Heliospheric Observatory - is run by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the European Space Agency.
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