Far-sided CME Ejected (December 19, 2008)
SOHO observed a nice sized coronal mass ejection (CME) being blasted out to the left, which originated in an event on the far-side of the sun (Dec. 16-17, 2008). The cloud of particles quickly became larger than the Sun as it headed into space at more than a million miles per hour. In C3 coronagraphs, a blue disk blocks the Sun so that we can see the faint structures in the sun's outer atmosphere, its corona. We have not seen many CME's this last year as the sun is near its minimum level of activity in the 11-year solar cycle, though the pace of activity does appear to be picking up of late.
SOHO began its Weekly Pick some time after sending a weekly image or video clip to the American Museum of Natural History (Rose Center) in New York City. There, the SOHO Weekly Pick is displayed with some annotations on a large plasma display.
If your institution would also like to receive the same Weekly Pick from us for display (usually in Photoshop or QuickTime format), please send your inquiry to firstname.lastname@example.org.