A NASA spacecraft has captured spectacular video of an enormous plasma "tornado" spinning off the sun.
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory probe, or SDO, watched the dark-hued twister churn and ultimately erupt over the course of one day, from April 29 to 30. Mission scientists used the spacecraft 's imagery to create an 18-second-long video of the dramatic solar tornado.
http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/main/item/656A small, but complex mass of plasma gyrated and spun about over the course of 40 hours above the surface of the Sun (Sept. 1-3, 2015). It was stretched and pulled back and forth by powerful magnetic forces but not ripped apart in this sequence. The temperature of the ionized iron particles observed in this extreme ultraviolet wavelength of light was about 2.8 million degrees C.
http://www.grindtv.com/random/tornado-that-is-5-million-degrees-rages-on-sun-for-40-hours/SDO project scientist William Pesnell told Huffington Post that the material in the solar tornado spun at speeds of about 10,000 mph.