The Sun Unleashed
Explanation:
On June 7,
the Sun unleashed
only a medium sized solar flare as rotation carried
active regions
of sunpots toward the solar limb.
But that flare was followed by an astounding gush of magnetized
plasma seen erupting at the Sun's edge
in this extreme ultraviolet image from the Solar Dynamics Observatory.
Spectacular movies
of the event follow the
darker, cooler
plasma over a period of hours as
it rains down across a broad area of the Sun's surface,
arcing along otherwise invisible
magnetic field lines.
An associated
coronal mass ejection,
a massive cloud of high energy
particles, was blasted in the general direction of the Earth and
may have already
triggered auroral activity after a glancing blow to
Earth's magnetosphere.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
