coronal mass ejections

Latest about coronal mass ejections

On June 20, 2013, at 11:15 p.m. EDT, the sun shot out a solar flare (left side), which was followed by an eruption of solar material shooting through the sun's atmosphere.

Unexpected solar flare smashes into Earth, causing radio blackouts in Australia and New Zealand

By Ben Turner published

The flare was accompanied by a coronal mass ejection that missed Earth

Space
red aurora

Blood Red Skies Over China Explained 300 Years Later

By Charles Q. Choi last updated

A massive geomagnetic storm that was recorded across East Asia for nine days in 1770 suggests such solar flareups are surprisingly common.

Planet Earth
The sun launched this coronal mass ejection at some 900 miles/second (nearly 1,500 km/s) on Aug. 31, 2012. The Earth is not this close to the sun; the image is for scale purposes only.

What are coronal mass ejections?

By Giles Sparrow last updated

A coronal mass ejection (CME) is a vast cloud of electrically charged particles that the sun releases with a huge burst of speed.

The Sun
A giant coronal mass ejection burst from the sun toward Venus on Sept. 5, 2022.

One of the largest solar storms ever detected just erupted on the far side of the sun

By Tereza Pultarova published

Venus is being hammered by wild space weather this week after a giant sunspot, not visible from Earth, expelled an enormous plasma burst toward the scorching-hot planet.

The Sun
This four-panel graphic illustrates how the southern region of the rapidly evolving, bright, red supergiant star Betelgeuse may have suddenly become fainter for several months during late 2019 and early 2020. In the first two panels, as seen in ultraviolet light with the Hubble Space Telescope, a bright, hot blob of plasma is ejected from the emergence of a huge convection cell on the star's surface. In panel three, the outflowing, expelled gas rapidly expands outward. It cools to form an enormous cloud of obscuring dust grains. The final panel reveals the huge dust cloud blocking the light (as seen from Earth) from a quarter of the star's surface.

One of the brightest stars in the sky dimmed in 2019. Now we know why.

By Stephanie Pappas published

The star Betelgeuse visibly dimmed in 2019. A new analysis finds that it blew off a huge amount of its surface.

Astronomy
The near side of the sun, pictured in August 2022

Huge, potentially disruptive sunspot will swing round to face Earth this weekend

By Jamie Carter published

A huge sunspot that's about to face Earth could disrupt satellites, cause power outages and lead to problems for airplane navigation systems.

The Sun
The sunspot region known as AR3006 has an area of a reversed magnetic polarity near its center, a phenomenon that can result in increased solar flare activity.

Mixed-up sunspot emits powerful solar flare

By Tom Metcalfe published

A mixed-up region of sunspots pointed almost directly at Earth just emitted a major solar flare, which could cause havoc with power grids and communication networks.

The Sun
The sun let off a double solar flare on Monday, April 25, 2022.

Sunspot sends off double flare, as solar activity ramps up

By Stephanie Pappas published

A restless sunspot sent off a double solar flare on Monday (April 25), temporarily disrupting some radio communications in Asia and Australia.

The Sun
The two massive sunspot groups, known as AR 2993 and AR 2994, became visible a few days ago at the northeast limb of the sun after becoming active while still hidden by the sun's disk.

New swarms of sunspots are so gigantic they could devour Earth whole

By Tom Metcalfe published

Two immense swarms of sunspots have popped into view on the surface of the sun, hinting at the increased possibilities of vivid auroras and potentially damaging solar flares over the months to come.

The Sun
This colorized image captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory space telescope shows a powerful solar flare blasting from the sun on March 31, 2022.

The sun let out another flare and the photos are stunning

By Tereza Pultarova published

NASA captured another solar flare blasting from the same overactive sunspot that triggered radio blackouts and stunning aurora displays on Earth.

The Sun
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