On one of the most spectacular nights of the year, Halloween night, our Sun decided to add its own share of horror and beauty by showcasing a massive solar eruption. This extraordinary event was observed by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which has been monitoring the activity of our star for years, providing unique and valuable scientific information.

The effect of this powerful eruption resembled a canyon of fire, creating a valley of impressive proportions on the surface of the Sun. From a perspective, this canyon had a width exceeding twice the area of the United States and was seven times longer than our planet. The exceptional footage created by NASA shows how massive plasma masses are ejected from the Sun, forming a plasma stream on its surface that, at some point, bursts, releasing enormous amounts of electrified gas towards the zone where it could potentially hit Earth.

This phenomenon was caused by a sunspot labeled as AR3477. It emitted a class M flare, known for causing temporary disruptions in radio signal transmissions, especially in polar regions of Earth. However, what makes this fire canyon truly remarkable is its enormous size, reaching a width of about 97,000 km. Moreover, these immense dimensions were large enough for this phenomenon to be observed even from Mars by NASA's Perseverance rover.

Interestingly, this mesmerizing fire canyon appeared during a period when the Sun is approaching the so-called solar maximum - a phase in the solar activity cycle that typically occurs every 11 years. It is a period when the activity of our star is particularly intense. Furthermore, the appearance of this eruption was preceded by an increase in solar prominences, or plasma loops on the Sun's southern hemisphere. Eventually, this structure became unstable and burst, creating the impressive fire canyon.

In the context of the scale of this phenomenon, it's worth emphasizing that it was about 620 times wider than the Grand Canyon on Earth and 224 times longer. Even compared to Valles Marineris on Mars, the largest canyon in our Solar System, the fire canyon was 50 times wider and 25 times longer.

Fortunately, although such solar eruptions can cause geomagnetic storms and auroras on Earth, the predicted trajectories of this plasma indicate that it will pass by our planet without causing major disruptions.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory continues to provide crucial information about solar activity. In 2021, through the analysis of SDO data, scientists were able to trace the "fingerprint" of plasma in the Sun's chromosphere, expanding our knowledge of solar storms. This profound understanding is fundamentally important for predicting significant solar events that could pose a threat to space missions, satellites, and Earth's infrastructure.