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. EDT. 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 image above includes an image of Earth to show the size of the CME compared to the size of Earth.
Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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Iain Jaques, cybeR@NGER, subgrafik, Yuichiro Haga, and 313 other people added this photo to their favorites.
![Magnificent CME Erupts on the Sun [HD VIDEO]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8455/7938936660_d1904cd1a4_s.jpg)
View 9 more comments
Richard W2008 9 months ago | reply
Incredible, mind blowing image !
;0)
mschmidt62 9 months ago | reply
Excellent reminder!
SpotShot 9 months ago | reply
crazy shit!
Wishtography 9 months ago | reply
Awesome, God The Starbreather At Work With A Little "Star Maintenance"!!
\X/ish
ro_chelle 9 months ago | reply
Amazing! Is it true that if a massive CME directed towards Earth it could depress the magnetosphere enough to blow off the atmosphere?
█ fo112 █ 9 months ago | reply
Nice
I Smoke Art Fag$ 9 months ago | reply
Looking at this sort of stuff does me tree in !!!
Kévin Galop 9 months ago | reply
impressive
Airán 9 months ago | reply
Beautiful! Please, could you comment on what are the spectral ranges over which the images are taken? is it XUV? thank you very much!!
Edilswo 9 months ago | reply
Is very impressive how the sun is bright at long distance(we can prove that), and now looking like a photoshop assembly or maybe is.
Gamo 9 months ago | reply
DiamantThomy 9 months ago | reply
Nice
ArlindoCarvalho 9 months ago | reply
Thank you for sharing this. (2) And congratulations.
robertwesterman 9 months ago | reply
Insignificant or not, we are the only creatures known to inhabit the galaxy that can appreciate such scale and beauty.
Muddy Funkster 9 months ago | reply
Here here!
gubaró 9 months ago | reply
aos que tem olhos para ver .
Brian1625 9 months ago | reply
What does it mean when an insignificant race of humans realizes that they're insignificant? It means nothing. It's insignificant what we think. Conclusion? You might as well say we're the most important creation of the universe, because; Why not? Just remember, any answer given to "why not?" will be insignificant.
skaduhfalsdhfuioasehfioasdhfg 8 months ago | reply
Psa 19:1-3
(1) The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
(2) Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
(3) There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
We are not insignificant, God created it for us.
Chris Busey Photography 6 months ago | reply
WOW!!! Very nice. An artistic, interesting and beautiful photograph!! Well done.
Banleft 31 hours ago | reply
这是何等壮美的景象，无可堪比，惟余赞叹。