Latest Coronal mass ejection Stories

NASA -- Just one week ago, on Sept. 7th, a huge sunspot rounded the sun's eastern limb. As soon as it appeared, it exploded, producing one of the brightest x-ray solar flares of the Space Age. In the days that followed, the growing spot exploded eight more times. Each powerful "X-flare" caused a shortwave radio blackout on Earth and pumped new energy into a radiation storm around our planet. The blasts hurled magnetic clouds toward Earth, and when they hit, on Sept 10th and 11th,...

ESA -- A team of researchers from the UK and France used SOHO, ACE and the four Cluster spacecraft to study a huge eruption on the Sun, tracing its progress from birth to when it reached Earth. The team, led by scientists from University College London, identified the source of a "˜coronal mass ejection' (CME) and analysed how its magnetic field changes on its path to Earth. Triggered by a massive explosion on the Sun with millions of times more energy than a nuclear bomb, these CMEs are...

Going to the Moon? Be careful. A new kind of solar storm can take you by surprise.Science@NASA -- January 2005 was a stormy month -- in space. With little warning, a giant spot materialized on the sun and started exploding. Between January 15th and 19th, sunspot 720 produced four powerful solar flares. When it exploded a fifth time on January 20th, onlookers were not surprised. They should have been. Researchers realize now that the January 20th blast was something special. It has shaken the...

BOULDER -- New research from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) links a particular magnetic structure on the Sun with the genesis of powerful solar storms that can buffet Earth's atmosphere. The research may enable scientists to create more accurate computer models of the solar storms, known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and could eventually point the way to forecasting the storms days before they occur.Sarah Gibson, a scientist at NCAR's High Altitude Observatory (HAO),...

NASA -- When it comes to mysterious X-rays from Saturn, the ringed planet may act as a mirror, reflecting explosive activity from the sun, according to scientists using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The findings stem from the first observation of an X-ray flare reflected from Saturn's low-latitudes - the region that correlates to Earth's equator and tropics.Led by Dr. Anil Bhardwaj, a planetary scientist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Ala., the study revealed...

NASA -- The most intense burst of solar radiation in five decades accompanied a large solar flare on January 20. It shook space weather theory and highlighted the need for new forecasting techniques, according to several presentations at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting this week in New Orleans. The solar flare, which occurred at 2 a.m. EST, tripped radiation monitors all over the planet and scrambled detectors on spacecraft. The shower of energetic protons came minutes after the...

NASA -- A layer deep in the solar atmosphere can be used to estimate the speed of the solar wind, a stream of electrified gas that constantly blows from the Sun. Estimating the speed of the solar wind will improve space weather forecasts, enhancing our ability to protect communications, navigation, and other satellites from the effects of solar storms. We will also be able to warn human explorers on their way to the planets of the severity of those storms. The solar wind flows from the Sun's...

PPARC -- Solar physicists have observed the smallest ever coronal mass ejection (CME) - a type of explosion where plasma from the Sun is thrown out into space, sometimes striking the Earth and damaging orbiting satellites. The observation has come as a great surprise to scientists and has turned previous ideas up-side-down.To date studies of these phenomena have focussed on large explosions which are easier to detect and which have massive footprints on the Sun, sometimes covering thousands...

NASA -- The thrills! The chills! Soon you'll be able to see for the first time ever, in dazzling three dimensions "¦ the Sun. Imagine solar prominences looping out into space for thousands of miles. Now picture a billion megaton blast of solar plasma flying toward Earth and the effect it would have on astronauts, satellites in orbit, airplanes, and power grids, which are vulnerable to such a burst. Now you're starting to see why we need a better understanding of that powerful and dynamic...

The biggest solar proton storm in 15 years erupted last week. NASA researchers discuss what it might have done to someone on the Moon. Science@NASA -- NASA is returning to the Moon -- not just robots, but people. In the decades ahead we can expect to see habitats, greenhouses and power stations up there. Astronauts will be out among the moondust and craters, exploring, prospecting, building. Last week, though, there were no humans walking around on the Moon. Good thing. On January 20th, 2005,...