PLASMA TORNADO

Solar activity is low, but it is not zero. On Jan. 24th, a curled plume of magnetized plasma near the sun's southeastern limb untwisted itself and exploded. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the tornado action:

The mouth of the twister was wide enough to swallow two planets Earth. As powerful as the storm was, however, it was overcome by the gravity of the sun. Debris from the helical explosion fell back to the stellar surface and did not form a CME.