Explanation: What's hovering above the Sun? A solar prominence . A prominence is a crest of hot gas expelled from the Sun's surface that is held aloft by the Sun's magnetic field . Prominences can last for days, can suddenly explode into space , or just fall back to the Sun . What decides a prominence's fate is how the Sun's complex magnetic field changes -- the field's direction can act like an offramp for trapped solar particles . The 3-second (repeating) time-lapse featured video was captured earlier this month from Ottawa , Ontario , Canada . It shows the development of a larger-than-Earth prominence as it appears to leak solar plasma back to the Sun, over the course of an hour. What is unusual is that the prominence appears to hover -- more simple and typical prominences form magnetic loops that connect back to the surface. Many hours after this video ended, the hovering prominence disintegrated back into the Sun.

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