Coronal Mass Ejection on the Sun - August 31, 2012
On August 31, 2012 a long filament of solar material that had been hovering in the sun's atmosphere, the corona, erupted out into space at 4:36 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The coronal mass ejection, or CME, traveled at over 900 miles per second. The CME did not travel directly toward Earth, but did connect with Earth's magnetic environment, or magnetosphere, causing aurora to appear on the night of Monday, September 3. The August 31, 2012 coronal mass ejection is shown in four different extreme ultraviolet wavelengths as observed by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft. Clockwise from upper left, the wavelengths are: 335, 171, 131, 304 angstroms.
Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO
Image Number: Aug_31_CME_4_Panel
Date: August 31, 2012
Coronal Mass Ejection on the Sun - August 31, 2012
On August 31, 2012 a long filament of solar material that had been hovering in the sun's atmosphere, the corona, erupted out into space at 4:36 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The coronal mass ejection, or CME, traveled at over 900 miles per second. The CME did not travel directly toward Earth, but did connect with Earth's magnetic environment, or magnetosphere, causing aurora to appear on the night of Monday, September 3. The August 31, 2012 coronal mass ejection is shown in four different extreme ultraviolet wavelengths as observed by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft. Clockwise from upper left, the wavelengths are: 335, 171, 131, 304 angstroms.
Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO
Image Number: Aug_31_CME_4_Panel
Date: August 31, 2012