Excerpt: “On April 8, millions of people gathered across the path of totality, including at 14 NASA ‘SunSpot’ locations where attendees could speak to NASA experts and engage in educational activities. At many locations, visitors set up blankets, lawn chairs, and picnics as they prepared to watch the Sun turn into a crescent until its bright face completely disappeared. … Viewers could also see bright pink prominences flowing out from the Sun. Prominences are unstable clouds of plasma suspended above the Sun by strong magnetic forces. The prominences spotted during the eclipse were many times larger than Earth itself. It’s rare to be able to spot prominences from the ground unaided by a telescope, so seeing these prominences with just your eyes was a unique opportunity for those on the ground. While we were watching the eclipse from the ground, [NASA spacecraft Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)] was watching from above.”
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