A
coronal mass ejection, otherwise known as a solar flare, is a release of plasma that strikes the Earth's magnetic field.
Bonnie Diamond, meteorologist at the Met Office, said: "A
Coronal Mass Ejection has happened and the effects of that are expected to arrive later tomorrow evening.
Solar flares and
coronal mass ejections (CMEs) pose a major threat to power grids, satellites and other spacecraft, and radio communications, but currently space weather forecasters are only able to provide a one-day warning--at most--of an impending CME threat to Earth.
Nov 12/13: Kp 4, indirect
coronal mass ejection (CME) arrived about 23:00, aurora over Scandinavia (see Spaceweather.com).
A solar
coronal mass ejection or flare is forecast to hit earth on Friday; though it'll be disrupted by the earth's atmosphere it should still cause a spectacular display in the night sky.
It presents 90 papers within sections on Hinode perspectives on coronal/chromospheric heating; bringing modeling and observations together; solar magnetic activity; perspectives on the physics of coronal loops; past, present, and future collaborative observational/theory programs; sunspot structure and dynamics; sources of the solar wind and
coronal mass ejection; local helioseismology with Hinode; and flare physics.
Scientists will use SDO data to understand what causes a coronal loop to arch above the Sun, a solar flare to erupt, and a
coronal mass ejection to suddenly blast millions of tons of material toward Earth.
The Sun ordinarily gives some warning when it is about to let loose a
coronal mass ejection (CME).
8 January 2002: A widely spreading
coronal mass ejection blasts over a billion tons of matter into space at millions of kilometers an hour.
The breakthrough means scientists will hopefully be able to look out for solar storms known as
Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) as they move out from the sun towards the earth and avoid the havoc they can cause.
Scientists suspect that the
coronal mass ejection changed shape--from a smooth crescent to a wavy one--because it interacted with the solar wind.
"It takes roughly 36 hours after a
coronal mass ejection to get here, about the same time as priority mail," Flinn said.