A Coronal Mass Ejection
This photo instantly caught my eye as I was sifting through the photos at Astronomy picture of the day. This is a picture of the sun having a coronal mass ejection, or a CME. CME's occur about once a week to twice a day when the sun emits filaments of light and blasts balls of magnetic plasma through space. The filaments can be seen from almost 2 million kilometers above the sun's surface. CME's can also affect space weather and seriously affect our earth if they are directed towards us. One question that was raised by this photo was how destructive can CME's be to other planets. Another question that was raised by this photo was what material are the solar filaments made of.Source of Photo
This picture is very interesting. It leaves me with several questions, including how bright these fragments are, as well as how far the fragments travel, and finally what happens to the fragments once they stop traveling.
ReplyDeleteOur magnetic field helps to protect Earth from CMEs, however some planets lack a magnetic field, or have a weaker one, making life impossible due to the high energy particles emitted by these events.
ReplyDeleteThis picture as well catches my eye instantly due to the small but extremely glaring pieces within the coronal mass. Why is it not seen by people like us if they occur so often and are so bright? And how harmful is the CME to the human eye or skin?
ReplyDeleteI wonder why it is that we don't see this happen if it happens so often. Many of my questions echo those of Zoey's.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why it is that we don't see this happen if it happens so often. Many of my questions echo those of Zoey's.
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