(SPACE) – Filaments of plasma escaped from a fiery canyon that opened on the sun’s surface on Sunday (April 3) releasing powerful streams of magnetized solar wind that might bring more auroras to Earth later this week.
According to Space Weather, the “canyon of fire” is at least 12,400 miles (20,000 kilometers) deep and 10 times as long.
The U.K. weather forecaster Met Office confirmed that two “filament eruptions” occurred in the south-central part of the sun. Satellites in the extreme ultraviolet part of the electromagnetic spectrum and ground telescopes equipped to observe in the warmth-carrying infrared wavelengths were both able to see the eruptions.