Forget Iceland's volcano. If you want to see a really big eruption, you need to head to the Sun.
This astonishing image - captured by a new Nasa space telescope - shows a ferocious solar flare looping out the Sun with the power of 100 hydrogen bombs. The ring of fire, heated to tens of millions of degrees, stretches out tens of thousands of miles - and is so big it could contain more than 100 Earths.
It is just one of the spectacular images from a new satellite which it says could give fresh insight into how the Sun works.
The pictures were taken by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which is the most advanced spacecraft ever designed to study the Sun.
Some of the images show never-before-seen detail of material streaming outward and away from sunspots. Others show extreme close-ups of activity on the Sun’s surface.
'These amazing images, which show our dynamic sun in a new level of detail, are only the beginning of SDO's contribution to our understanding of the Sun,' he said.
Ring of fire: Known as a 'prominence eruption', this is a loop of gas heated to an extremely high temperature. Twisted magnetic fields on the Sun's surface cause the gas to be shaped like this. This image was captured by the satellite on March 30
Full power: An extreme ultraviolet image of the Sun shows different gas temperatures - reds are about 59,727C, blues and greens are about 999,727C
What is thermonuclear reaction in sun?
Nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion is a reaction between two nuclei that combine together to form a heavier nuclei. The sun shines thanks to fusion reactions that turn hydrogen nuclei into helium.
By Claire Bates and David Derbyshire
Last updated at 8:43 AM on 23rd April 2010
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