--- title: "You May Be Able to See Twisted Towers of Fire During Eclipse" description: "Because the Sun is near the peak of its cycle, it's likely that you'll be able to see gigantic towers of plasma leaping off its surface." date: "2024-03-24" modified: "2024-03-24" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/twisted-towers-sun-eclipse" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "eclipse" - "space" - "Sun" - "the digest" --- # You May Be Able to See Twisted Towers of Fire During Eclipse ![Because the Sun is near the peak of its cycle, it's likely that you'll be able to see gigantic towers of plasma leaping off its surface.]() *This is a photo of the March 9, 2016 total solar eclipse that I took on the path of totality from the small costal village of Pulau Dua on the East coast of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. - During the brief moment of "totality" (that lasted about 2 min), the Sun is completely hidden by the Moon, day becomes night (you can see stars), and you can then look directly at the total eclipse with the naked eyes, with no need for glasses or filters. And this is what you see! - The whitish hair-like structure around the Sun is called the "Corona", and can only be seen and photographed during the moment of totality, when the Sun is completely hidden by the Moon. - The Corona is formed by hot ionized gas particles (plasma) ejected by the Sun into space (eventually forming the "solar wind"). When they reach the Earth, those particles form aurora borealis ("northern lights"). The Corona continuously changes shape (very slowly) and it looks different for each total eclipse. The bright spot on the left is a prominence, i.e. giant splashes of sun's molten material. - I obtained this image using HDR processing, from just 3 exposures that I took with a regular DSLR camera and a 300mm telephoto, on a tripod. No filter was used since this photo was taken during the moment of "totality", when it is safe to look at the sun directly with the naked eyes. \Image: Tristan Savatier/Getty Images\* ## Captain Plasma Amateur and professional astronomers alike are roiling with excitement for the total solar eclipse that'll fall over North America on April 8. An extra reason to try and catch the rare solar event, according to an [excellent new piece in *Space.com*](): because our star is currently near the peak of its 11-year solar cycle, during the "totality" of the eclipse — the moment when the Sun is completely covered, plunging the world below into a strange darkness — it's likely that you'll be able to see gigantic towers of explosive plasma leaping off its surface. "If we get lucky, a \[coronal mass ejection\] will present itself as a twisted, spiral-like structure, high in the atmosphere in the Sun," National Solar Observatory solar physicist Ryan French told *Space.com*. ## Sun Police It's not a sure thing that there'll be a giant coronal mass ejection or flare during the brief window of totality, French told *Space.com*. Whether they'll be small or epic eruptions that float away from the Sun's surface, though, remains to be seen. "There have been a few examples of such prominence eruptions over the past few months, each of which would have given a great show if occurring during a total solar eclipse," French told the site. "But it's worth noting that the eclipse will still provide a view of stationary, non-eruptive prominences; they'll just be smaller and closer to the sun's surface than they would be mid-eruption." Be safe, though. Experts [have warned]() that the market is being flooded with fake eclipse glasses that could cause permanent vision damage — like one unfortunate woman who stared at a previous eclipse and ended up with a [permanent crescent in her vision](). **More on the eclipse:** [*Mind-Bending View of a Solar Eclipse from the Stratosphere*]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()