The Latest in a String of Spectacular Solar Explosions

Watch the sun’s great explosions

A solar filament that had been lurking atop the sun for a week finally exploded this month, the latest in a string of large solar explosions that NASA scientists say will peak in 2013. This explosion, seen below, released high-energy plasma into the solar system, but did not create auroras on Earth because it dispersed before reaching our atmosphere.NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the image sequence, which shows the filament exploding.

 In August, NASA scientists observed a 28-hour period of shock waves, solar flare explosions and solar "tsunamis" that rocked the sun. They've named the event "The Great Eruption." (Seen above)

Scientists say the activity is a sign that the sun is "waking up" and heading for another "solar maximum" cycle in 2013, according to Space.com."The August 1st event really opened our eyes," NASA scientist Karel Schrijver said. "We see that solar storms can be global events, playing out on scales we scarcely imagined before."

Scientists are still trying to figure out what kind of connection there is among the massive explosions that occurred so far apart on the sun's surface.

"We're still sorting out cause and effect," Schrijver said. "Was the event one big chain reaction, in which one eruption triggered another, bang, bang, bang, in sequence? Or did everything go off together as a consequence of some greater change in the sun's global magnetic field?"