Colossal eruption carves 250,000-mile-long 'canyon of fire' into the sun (video)

On July 15, a colossal filament erupted from the sun's northeastern limb, dramatically reshaping part of our star's surface, albeit briefly, and unleashing a coronal mass ejection (CME) into space.

image showing a large filament eruption and an inset image showing the large canyon left behind from the outburst. — A colossal filament eruption left behind a 'canyon of fire' some 250,000-mile-long (inset image). (Image credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) imagery, graphic made in Canva Pro by Daisy Dobrijevic.)

These glowing rifts form when the sun's magnetic field lines violently snap and realign after an eruption, leaving behind a searing hot trench of plasma that traces the reshaping magnetic field, according to NASA.

This fiery chasm isn't just a visual spectacle. Filaments are cooler, dense ribbons of solar plasma that can hang suspended above the sun's surface by magnetic fields, according to NOAA. When these become unstable, they can erupt dramatically, sometimes launching coronal mass ejections (CMEs) into space — powerful blasts of solar plasma and magnetic fields that can trigger geomagnetic storms here on Earth.

gif animation showing a large fiery tendril unravelling from the sun in a colossal eruption. — A massive filament eruption carved a 250,000-mile-long "canyon of fire" into the sun (Image credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO))

Coronagraph imagery from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and GOES-19 satellite suggests that while the filament eruption did release a CME, there is no Earth-directed component.

"The CME is heading away from Earth," aurora chaser Vincent Ledvina wrote in a post on X. "Here is the CME in LASCO C2 (left) and CCOR-1 (right) which has a later frame of the CME further spread out. The front is traveling pretty slowly and away from Earth."

Here is the CME in LASCO C2 (left) and CCOR-1 (right) which has a later frame of the CME further spread out. The front is traveling pretty slowly and away from Earth. pic.twitter.com/ljWWmThpGQJuly 15, 2025

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Daisy Dobrijevic joined Space.com in February 2022, having previously worked as a staff writer for All About Space magazine. She completed an editorial internship with BBC Sky at Night Magazine and worked at the National Space Centre, communicating space science to the public.

Daisy holds a PhD in plant physiology and a Master's in Environmental Science. Based in Nottingham, U.K., she covers all things space, with a special focus on solar activity and space weather. She also has a keen interest in astrotourism and is always on the lookout for the next northern lights adventure.

She will be a guest speaker aboard HX's Solar Eclipse Expedition in August 2026 and will join Hurtigruten as an onboard astronomer for a northern lights sailing in January 2027.