LONDON:An orbiting NASA space telescope has captured the footage of a planet-sized object flying close to the sun, and extending a "refuelling tube" into the sun's surface.
The black orb later flies off into space, the Daily Mail reported.
The video captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and put on YouTube has inspired a wave of speculation.
A YouTube user has challenged experts to explain the strange object.
However, the US space agency had an ordinary explanation.
It said it was not a visitor from another solar system, or a planet being born out of the surface of the sun.
It was a solar "filament" -- a feature extending out from the sun which forms over the course of a day, and can extend thousands of miles into space.
NASA says: "A solar prominence (also known as a filament) is a large, bright feature extending outward from the sun's surface. Prominences are anchored to the sun's surface and extend outwards into the sun's hot outer atmosphere, called the corona.
"Scientists are still researching how and why prominences are formed. An erupting prominence occurs when such a structure becomes unstable and bursts outward, releasing the plasma."