The sun is far from quiet.
Yesterday, December 17th, sun Launched an “extremely rare” remote end coronal mass ejection (CME) — A giant plume of plasma and magnetic fields.
According to NASA’s Notices, Knowledge, and Information Space Weather Database (donkey)the estimated speed of an ER (“extremely rare”) CME is about 1,964 miles per second (3,161 km/s!). This eruption occurred on the far side of the Sun and had no components directed toward Earth. Slower coronal mass ejections usually require two to three days Arrival, and if this coronal mass ejection is Earth-directed, it will arrive in about less than 18 hours.
“Boom! A huge and very fast full-halo coronal mass ejection appeared in LASCO images this afternoon,” aurora and storm chaser Jure Atanackov wrote in an article. Posted on X.
Prosperity! A large and very fast full-halo coronal mass ejection appeared in LASCO images this afternoon. The speed is very fast, most of them clear the C2 field of view within 1 hour. The culprit is again an active region on the far side, likely in the Southern Hemisphere, near the central meridian. Wow! pic.twitter.com/HaEFcioOQyDecember 17, 2024
This is the fourth distal coronal mass ejection in 10 days, suggesting the presence of a very active hidden sunspot that has not yet rotated into view, According to Spaceweather.com. We expect the blast culprit to be spinning toward Earth next week.
But the hypervelocity coronal mass ejection wasn’t our star’s only impressive eruption yesterday. The previous two coronal mass ejections erupted during eruptions of hot solar filaments on the southeastern edge.
Solar filaments are giant clouds of ionized gas above the sun’s surface. When they become unstable, they either fall back into the Sun or erupt into space, launching coronal mass ejections into space. When Earth is on the front line of such an eruption, it can trigger geomagnetic storms — disturbances in the planet magnetosphere. Although all three eruptions released coronal mass ejections, none were expected to be aimed at Earth.
Solar astrophysicist Ryan French wrote in a post: “Two very photogenic plasma eruptions occurred to the east of the sun this morning! Neither were pointed toward Earth.” Post on X.
Two very photogenic plasma eruptions to the east of the sun this morning! Neither is for Earth. #spaceweather pic.twitter.com/OYqX2frI6rDecember 17, 2024
Lasco brings a broader perspective Coronagraph This image of the Sun’s corona shows the complex structure of two coronal mass ejections released by filament eruptions.
“The second coronal mass ejection in particular showed beautiful structures when it exploded!” French continued.
Here is a clip from another coronagraph image with a longer time period and wider field of view. The second coronal mass ejection in particular showed beautiful structures as it exploded! pic.twitter.com/W6YwbK7YkYDecember 17, 2024