|
click to enlarge |
| Coronal Mass Ejection as viewed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory on June 7, 2011
Courtesy of NASA/SDO |
Having a Solar Blast!
The Sun unleashed an M-2 (medium-sized) solar flare, an S1-class (minor) radiation storm and a spectacular coronal mass ejection (CME) on June 7, 2011 from sunspot complex 1226-1227. The large cloud of particles mushroomed up and fell back down looking as if it covered an area of almost half the solar surface. The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) observed this solar flare’s peak at 1:41 AM EST. SDO recorded these images in extreme ultraviolet light that show a very large eruption of cool gas. It is somewhat unique because at many places in the eruption there seems to be even cooler material — at temperatures less than 80,000 K.
