NASA SDO Captures Image of Mysterious Object Refuelling From Sun [VIDEO]

Nasa's space telescope has caught footage of a mysterious object that was apparently flying in the plasma, close to the sun. The object appeared to have an extended tube that was connected to the sun.

Speculation that the object in the footage appeared like a huge planet, star or UFO is unlikely. The apparent extended tube does give the appearance that object is connected or 'refuelling' itself from the star's surface. The video was captured by Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory and put on YouTube.

Nasa has a more ordinary and scientific explanation for the strange, black orb. NASA Scientists believe that it is a solar "prominence" or "filament" - a feature extending from the sun which forms over the course of a day, and can extend hundreds of thousands of miles into space.

Scientists are still puzzled as to why these features form. The "dark" parts are cooler than the surrounding solar matter. There may be strong electro-magnetic forces at work.

C Alex Young, a solar astrophysicist at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre, said: "Filaments appear to be dark because they're cooler in relation to what's in the background."

"When you look at it from the edge of the sun, what you see is this spherical object and you're actually looking down the funnel."

Irag and Afghan Insurgents Hacking into Drones' Video footage

The remotely piloted aircraft has become a key weapon in the fights in Afghanistan and Iraq. It costs millions of dollars apiece, and with the help of cheap software, insurgents can intercept the live video feeds from the drones.

Using software programs such as Skygrabber, which costs $26 and copies are widely available for free online, insurgents can exploit a security hole in the system to get a look at exactly what U.S. personnel are seeing.

Most of the hacking discoveries have been in Iraq, but officials have found evidence that it is going on in Afghanistan as well. Although it doesn't seem like militants can actually take control of the drones, just being able to take a look at what they are recording could be of tremendous help to escape the watchful eye of the United States.

American officials have known about this vulnerability for years, but they didn't think enemies would know how to take advantage of it. There's been some attempt at encryption, but it's no easy proposition and could hurt the ability to act on the information quickly.

Now the United States is getting ready to spend as much as $4.5 billion to buy new-generation drones that have the same vulnerability.