Eruptive Prominence
Activity on our parent star continues to increase as the sun approaches a maximum in its 11-year solar cycle , expected in the year 2000. On June 14 - only a week before the solstice - the space-based SOHO observatory recorded this stunning view of an immense prominence erupting from the sun's southern latitudes (south is up). The false-color image was made in the extreme Ultraviolet light produced by ionized Helium atoms in the solar plasma. Earth dwellers fortunate enough to be well located in Europe , the Middle East , Asia may be able to view for themselves activity above the solar limb during the upcoming August solar eclipse - the last total eclipse of the second millennium .