Explosive' Solar Event Captured by NASA's Observatory

On the last day of August, the sun spit out a mass of gas controlled only by its own magnetic fields -- and it was all seen by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.

The solar filment is described by NASA as collapsing "in a spectacular way" on Aug. 31. The observatory captured the scene in extreme ultraviolet light letting the "dramatic detail" of the event shine through.

"Long filaments like this one have been known to collapse with explosive results when they hit the stellar surface below," according to NASA.

Watch the event for yourself:

Wired reports NOAA's spaceweather prediction center saying this solar event would have only created a moderate geomagnetic storm on Earth.

Geomagnetic storms, while they can take out some satellite equipment if strong enough, are known also to enhance the northern lights. This video of the northern lights was taken in Alberta on Monday -- the day when the storm was expected to hit Earth:

(H/T: io9)