Filament Uprising

Part of an elongated filament became unstable and erupted near the Sun's north pole (Feb. 19, 2012) as seen by the STEREO (Ahead) spacecraft in extreme UV light. Filaments are cooler clouds of gases that are suspended above the Sun's surface by magnetic forces. They commonly erupt and disappear into space. Note that the remainder of the filament (stretching to the right) seems to remain unaffected by this eruption.

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• filament304_small.mpg   
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