Andrew McCarthy Captures Dramatic Tornado on the Surface of the Sun.

Amateur astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy captured a video of a tornado-like solar prominence on the Sun's surface using a modified telescope that can observe the Sun's atmosphere in hydrogen-alpha band. The feature was a mass of plasma caught in a magnetic loop, drawing it away from the photosphere and over a hundred thousand miles into space. McCarthy collaborated with colleague Jason Guenzel to produce a 140 megapixel still image of the Sun with the tornado visible in the upper portion of the image. The Sun has layers just like the Earth and other celestial objects, including the photosphere, chromosphere, solar prominence, and corona.