PLASMA MISH - MASH

A clump of swirling strands of plasma created a tangled mass when viewed in profile at the edge of the Sun (Mar. 1-2, 2016). We call this a solar prominence, but it does appear more like a twisting, confused clump of plasma. The sequence was imaged in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. Competing magnetic forces pulled the plasma this way and that over the 25 hours of the video. (Note: the hour-long eclipse of the Sun by the Earth was edited out.)

 Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA.