Solar prominence. Illustration of a loop-shaped solar prominence erupting from the surface of the Sun. Solar prominences consist of plasma - charged particles produced when atoms of hydrogen are torn apart by immense heat. The eruptions are usually confined within tube-shaped magnetic fields, resulting in loops like this one. The yellow area at lower right is the photosphere, the Sun's surface. Above this is a red layer of hydrogen gas called the chromosphere. The Sun is powered by a gigantic, uncontrolled nuclear fusion explosion in its core, where temperatures reach at least 14 million degrees C. It loses mass at a rate of around four million tons per second.