Magnificent CME Erupts on the Sun with Earth to Scale
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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![Magnificent CME Erupts on the Sun [HD VIDEO]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8455/7938936660_d1904cd1a4_s.jpg)
Comments and faves
Iain Jaques, cybeR@NGER, subgrafik, Yuichiro Haga, and 311 other people added this photo to their favorites.
cybeR@NGER (9 months ago | reply)
OMG! How insignificant we really are !!!
Canuck with a camera (9 months ago | reply)
That's ginormous.
josh-fish (9 months ago | reply)
well, that sure makes me feel insignificant!
Derek_Custer (9 months ago | reply)
Fantastic image.
Muddy Funkster (9 months ago | reply)
WOW, love stuff like this.
Pontus_GBG (9 months ago | reply)
Fantastic image!! It made my day!
4Durt (9 months ago | reply)
New definition for "great balls of fire"
OldTom2009 (9 months ago | reply)
Thank you for sharing this.
Farshad Sanaee The Apple (9 months ago | reply)
,.~* Amazing Hell *~.,
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 (8 months ago | reply)
Nice
ArlindoCarvalho (8 months ago | reply)
Thank you for sharing this. (2) And congratulations.
robertwesterman (8 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 (8 months ago | reply)
Here here!
gubaró (8 months ago | reply)
aos que tem olhos para ver .
Brian1625 (8 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.