April 18, 2012
NASA released images of a powerful solar flare that unleashed an eruption of super-heated plasma from the surface of the sun before blasting into space. The flare was recorded by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft, which is part of a 5-year mission focused on the sun. NASA described the eruption as “a beautiful prominence eruption producing a coronal mass ejection,” known as a CME. It was not directed towards Earth. Extremely powerful CMEs can pose a danger to astronauts and satellites in space, as well as power grids, navigation and communications systems on Earth.
This article was posted: Wednesday, April 18, 2012 at 2:58 am