Prominence

A prominence seen in the chromosphere during the total solar eclipse of 2 July.

Prominences are made of tangled magnetic field lines that keep dense concentrations of solar plasma suspended above the Sun’s surface. They are anchored to the Sun's visible surface and extend outwards through the chromosphere and out into the corona. The red hue of the chromosphere is only apparent during an eclipse.

The image was taken by the ESA-CESAR team observing the eclipse from ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile, South America.