It Came from the Sun . ... What might appear at first glance to be some sort of Sun monster is actually a solar prominence . ... A solar prominence is a thin cloud of solar gas held just above the surface by the Sun's magnetic field . A quiescent prominence typically lasts about a month, while an eruptive prominence like the one developing above may erupt within hours into a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), expelling hot gas into the Solar System . ... NASA Official: Jay Norris. ...