Watch: NASA video captures dazzling eruption on sun's surface

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images earlier this month, to show the arching eruption on the sun which ultimately expanded into a coronal mass ejection (CME). A CME throws magnetized particles in a cloud out to space. This can take days to reach Earth. CMEs can also react with the elements in Earth's atmosphere to create the Northern or Southern Lights, but scientists monitor all activity to predict problems. This video shows the CME during a span of about four hours.