A backyard astrophotographer named Mark Johnston in Scottsdale, Arizona, filmed a massive solar prominence in late May 2026 (specifically May 31) that strikingly resembles Godzilla looming over the Sun’s edge.

Solar prominences are enormous loops or clouds of glowing plasma (ionized hydrogen) held up by the Sun’s powerful magnetic fields. They can extend tens or hundreds of thousands of kilometers above the surface. When viewed at the Sun’s limb (edge) against the blackness of space in hydrogen-alpha light, they appear as bright, dynamic structures.

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In this case:

The “Godzilla” shape is a towering prominence that looks like a creature stalking across the horizon due to its silhouette and the way plasma flows along magnetic field lines.

Johnston also captured another impressive one on May 22 showing coronal rain — streams of plasma falling back toward the Sun.

These aren’t actual flames; the hydrogen is so hot it glows, similar to how a hot stove element glows red without being “on fire.”

The footage is a timelapse compressing about 90 minutes to 2 hours of real-time activity into short videos, revealing the graceful, magnetic-guided motion that can look wind-swept but is dominated by electromagnetic forces (with gravity playing a secondary role).

Johnston used a 160mm refractor telescope with a specialized hydrogen-alpha filter from his backyard, which isolates a specific wavelength of light from hydrogen to reveal these otherwise invisible details. He images the Sun most clear mornings looking for interesting features.

Never observe or image the Sun without proper certified solar filters — it can cause permanent eye damage.

These events highlight how active our Sun is, even during non-peak periods, and backyard astronomers like Johnston contribute valuable documentation alongside professional observatories. If you’re into solar imaging, his work (and book The Solar Observer’s Handbook) is worth checking out.