Eruptive Prominence . ... Credit Copyright: SOHO - EIT Consortium, ESA , NASA Explanation: Activity on our parent star continues to increase as the sun approaches a maximum in its 11-year solar cycle , expected in the year 2000. ... Earth dwellers fortunate enough to be well located in Europe , the Middle East , Asia may be able to view for themselves activity above the solar limb during the upcoming August solar eclipse - the last total eclipse of the second millennium . ...