Development of a large coronal mass ejection (CME). The CME originated from the site of a X-9.4 flare, approximately 30 degrees off the west limb of the Sun on November 6, 1997. The four photographs are composite images as seen from the C2 and the C3 coronagraph of the LASCO experiment onboard SOHO. (Field of view, C2: 6 solar radii; C3: 32 solar radii.) At 12:10 UT the magnetic flux rope CME emerges from behind the C2 occulter with a velocity of 1500 km/s. At 12:41 UT the CME has expanded into the C3 field of view. At 13:46 UT the middle part of the CME has become a large, diffuse cloud with a dark hole in the center. The two legs, which are still connected to the solar surface have been deflected away to the north and south. At the west limb the dark structure in the equatorial plane is caused by the blow-out of material out of the equatorial streamer. High energetic (E>100 MeV) protons accelerated at the site of the flare arrive at 13:46 UT at the location of SOHO and cause numerous bright points and streaks in the images. Courtesy SOHO/LASCO consortium.