SDO and SOHO were not the only spacecraft to capture the spectacular eruption off the East (left) limb of the sun on August 24, 2014. The M5.9 flare (at 12:17 UT) from AR 12151 was seen by the STEREO SECCHI EUVI instrument but more notable was the beautiful prominence eruption observed with the STEREO COR1 coronagraph. Some of the material left the sun as a coronal mass ejection or CME but if you look closely you can seen some of the material falling back towards the solar surface. Some of the erupting material did not have enough energy to escape the sun’s massive gravity so it was pulled back down.
http://youtu.be/9gpXJvidjds
This amazing eruption did not have any direct impact on Earth (because it was off to the side) other than a minor radio blackout caused by the UV and X-ray light from the solar flare.
credit: NASA/STEREO
