A huge solar prominence, or eruption, was captured by the Solar Orbiter in space.
It is the largest such event ever observed in a single image along with the full solar disk and will add to the joint NASA-European mission to better understand solar activity.
The European Space Agency said in a statement Friday that solar prominences are large structures of tangled magnetic field lines that keep dense concentrations of solar plasma suspended above the sun's surface.
The eruptions of charged particles the sun emits from time to time are associated with solar prominences. Satellites, power lines and other vital infrastructure can be interfered with if these eruptions are directed toward Earth.
Video: Massive sun blast seen in spacecraft's incredibly wide view
Related: Solar Orbiter: The mission to explore the sun's poles in photos
The prominence that flew out into space on Tuesday was not directed towards our planet, according to the European Space Agency. It was imaged by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager.
Other space telescopes, such as the ESA/NASA SOHO, can sometimes see solar activity like this, but either closer to the sun or further out by means of an occulter, which blocks out the glare of the sun.
The prominence observed by Solar Orbiter is the largest ever event of its kind to be captured in a single field of view together with the solar disk, opening up new possibilities to see how events like these connect to the solar disk for the first time. At the same time, SOHO can provide views to even larger distances.
The next close approach of the sun will be on March 26. The sun will appear bigger in images taken in a few weeks.
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