Incredible Nasa video captures huge 'eruptions' on surface of sun

Two huge 'arms' of hot plasma erupted from the surface of the sun - searingly hot streaks of plasma many times the size of Earth.

The eruptions were captured on video during a four-hour period this weekend by NASA's orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory.

NASA scientists say that the blasts are not 'Earth-directed' - they point away from us into space.

When such 'prominences' erupt towards Earth, they can disrupt radio communications, GPS signals and even electrical power.

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The red-glowing looped material is plasma, a hot gas made of electrically charged hydrogen and helium.

The prominence plasma flows along a tangled and twisted structure of magnetic fields on the surface of the sun.

An erupting prominence occurs when such a structure becomes unstable and bursts outward, releasing the plasma.

The action was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) in the 304 Angstrom wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light.

The explosions occurred on November 16 between 1am and 5am EST.