A massive solar eruption, more than 30 times the length of Earth's diameter, blasted away from the Sun on July 1, 2002, and was captured in a picture taken by the SOHO satellite. The a fiery-looking 'leg' in the lower-left corner of the image is what astronomers call an eruptive prominence, a loop of magnetic fields that trap hot gas inside. If eruptions like these are aimed at Earth, they can disturb Earth's magnetosphere, but this one was not directed at our planet, a spokesman for SOHO said. (NASA/Reuters)