Watch a massive ’canyon of fire’ explode from the sun

The fiery chasm was at least double the width of the United States A vast “canyon of fire“ at least double the width of the United States was carved into the sun’s southern hemisphere Wednesday (Oct. 31). The culprit? A large magnetic filament eruption from the sun, according to . This activity generated a canyon roughly 6,200 miles wide (10,000 km) and 10 times as long. These solar filaments are colossal arcs of electrified gas, or plasma, that are held suspended above the sun’s surface. They snake through the sun’s atmosphere, responding to our star’s magnetic field. When the magnetic field becomes unstable, the filament collapses, which can result in spectacular explosions — like the one seen in the video above. According to , the eruption resulted in a coronal mass ejection (CME) — where charged plasma from the sun’s upper atmosphere, the corona, is hurled into space. NASA models hint at a glancing blow to Earth on Nov. 4.