This was
your sky.

A Solar Filament Erupts

In 2012, a long-standing solar filament on the Sun suddenly erupted into space. This event produced an energetic coronal mass ejection, or CME. The filament had been held in place for days by the Sun's magnetic field, making the timing of the eruption unexpected. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory watched the explosion, which shot electrons and ions into the Solar System.