The Moon Swings in Front of the Sun. Then the Sun Belches.

The clockwork motion of the heavens has brought us another treat: The dark silhouetted Moon sliding across the fiery disk of the Sun, as seen from NASAâs Solar Dynamics Observatory just hours ago:

SDO orbits the Earth, staring at the Sun 24/7. Every now and again the geometry lines up such that the Moon appears to move in front of the Sun, creating what astronomers call a transit (on Earth weâd call these solar eclipses). They usually last for a half hour or so, but this one lasted 2.5 hours! The video shows the Sun using SDOâs far-ultraviolet filter (30.4 nanometers, for those geeks keeping tabs), and was taken on Jan. 30, 2014, from 13:15 to 16:15 UTC (08:15 to 11:15 Eastern U.S. time). Note that the Moonâs path is an arc; thatâs due to the combined orbital motions of the Moon and SDO around the Earth.

And we get a bonus: At 16:11 UTC, a sunspot erupted in a moderately strong M6.6 flare! This blasted material off the surface of the Sun, creating a lovely (if terrifying) prominence of ionized gas flowing along the magnetic field lines of the star.

This probably wonât cause aurorae tonight, but it may bring minor radio interference. Check SpaceWeather.com and the NOAAâs Space Weather Prediction Center for current info.