Not to be confused with the intense burst of light that is a solar flare, a CME is a cloud of magnetized solar material that erupts from the sun's atmosphere, the corona, into interplanetary space. CM
Es do often occur at the same time as a flare, and scientists currently study how the two phenomena connect. At their largest, CMEs can contain 10 billion tons of matter, and they can move at speeds of a million miles an hour. Just after blowing into space, a CME cloud can grow as wide as 30 million miles across, 35 times the diameter of the sun. When a coronal mass ejection points toward Earth, it can take anywhere from one to three days to reach our atmosphere, where it can create a type of space weather known as a geomagnetic storm.
An outflow of plasma from or through the solar corona. CMEs are often, but not always, associated with erupting prominences, disappearing solar filaments, and/or flares. CMEs vary widely in structure,
density, and velocity. Large and fast CMEs can approach masses of 1.6 × 10^12 kg and approach velocities over 2000 km/s. Earth impacting CMEs can result in significant geomagnetic storms. Types of coronal mass ejections launched toward Earth are called "halo CMEs" because as they approach Earth, they appear larger than the Sun, making a halo of bright coronal emission completely around it.
A solar event (CME) that involves a burst of plasma ejected into the interplanetary medium. CME's may be observed remotely relatively near the sun or in situ in the interplanetary medium. The latter
type of observations are often referred to as Interplanetary CME's (ICME's). (spase)
A solar event (CME) that involves a burst of plasma ejected into the interplanetary medium. CME's may be observed remotely relatively near the sun or in situ in the interplanetary medium. The latter
type of observations are often referred to as Interplanetary CME's (ICME's). (spase)
A solar event (CME) that involves a burst ofplasma ejected into the interplanetary medium. CME's may be observedremotely relatively near the sun or in situ in the interplanetary medium.The latter type
of observations are often referred to as InterplanetaryCME's (ICME's).
Material condensing in the corona and appearing to rain down into the chromosphere as observed in H-alpha at the solar limb. Rarely observed and usually seen following the impulsive phase of a large
limb flare.
An instrument which can image things veryclose to the Sun by using a disk to block the Sun's bright surface whichreveals the faint solar corona and other celestial objects.
Corotating interaction regions are zones of enhanced solar wind plasma density and interplanetary magnetic field that result from a region of slow solar wind (ahead) being compressed by fast solar win
d behind it. In Earth's reference frame these enhanced regions sweep by, often creating small to moderate geomagnetic disturbances for a few to tens of hours.