Coronal Mass Ejections
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Coronal mass ejection
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
The outer solar atmosphere, the corona, is structured by strong magnetic fields. Where these fields are closed, often above sunspot groups, the confined solar atmosphere can suddenly and violently release bubbles of gas and magnetic fields called coronal mass ejections. A large CME can contain a billion tons of matter that can be accelerated to several million miles per hour in a spectacular explosion. Solar material streams out through the interplanetary medium, impacting any planet or spacecraft in its path. CMEs are sometimes associated with flares but can occur independently.
Coronal mass ejections occur when massive solar explosions blast through the Sun's outer atmosphere and plow toward Earth at speeds of thousands of miles per second. The small white circle in the center of the image shows the size of the Sun. A study by scientists at the National Space Science and Technology Center is offering new insight on these solar storms and how to better predict them. This image was taken from the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) Experiment on the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) on June 6, 2000. The first CME that goes off at about 09:00 has the shape of a light bulb. The second CME going off at about 16:30 is an Earth-directed CME, also called "halo" CMEs.
To download the movie, click HERE
Image credit: ESA/SOHO
Text credit: NASA's Goddard Media Studios