Filament Eruption
A long solar filament erupted and rushed away from the Sun (Oct. 15, 2002).  The image, taken in extreme UV light, shows the eruption in the middle of the action.  Filaments are cooler clouds of gas suspended above the SunŐs surface by strong magnetic forces.  Some unknown cause triggers these eruptions. The prior image, taken by the same instrument six hours before this one, shows that the filament extended more than half way across the Sun, making this one of the largest filaments that SOHO has seen.