Rare footage of an eruption of solar material surging off the sun has been captured by Nasa.
A coronal mass ejection (CME) happens when huge clouds of superheated particles are emitted from the sun’s corona – the outermost and hottest layer – and can reach speeds exceeding one million miles per hour.
The CME, captured on the 9th May was the first seen by Nasa’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS.
To capture the phenomenon, the IRIS must be pointed at the sun a day ahead of time and involves a degree of luck, according to Nasa.
The field of view seen in the footage is about five Earth’s wide and about seven and a half Earth’s tall.
Click image to see movie.
