a giant bubble of gas ejected from the Sun. It can carry as much as 10 billion tons of solar gas and travel as fast as 2000 kilometers per second. Also known as a CME.

Magnetic field lines within the sun’s corona that spread out into space, away from the sun. The result is a region where streams of atomic particles can follow the magnetic field and accelerate into space. These streams are collectively called the solar wind. (TOP OF THE PAGE) (CLOSE WINDOW)

Coronal mass ejections are explosions in the Sun's corona that spew out high-energy charged particles. CME's can seriously disrupt the Earth's environment through radiation, which arrives only 8 minutes after being released, and through very energetic particles pushed along by the shock wave of the CME. ( go to first use in the text)

An ejection of material from the Sun into interplanetary space. If the material is directed towards the Earth then the event may result in a disturbance to the Earth's magnetic field and ionosphere.

An observable change in coronal structure that (1) occurs on a time scale between a few minutes and several hours and (2) involves the appearance of a new, discrete, bright white-light feature in the coronograph field of view. They are associated with the large-scale, closed magnetic structures in the corona. At times of coronal mass ejections large quantities of material (10^15 - 10^16 g) are sporadically ejected from the Sun into the interplanetary space. The speed of the leading edge of the coronal mass ejection may vary from 50 km/s to 1200 km/s. Average speed is about 400 km/s. The average heliocentric width is about 45 degrees. The largest geomagnetic storms are caused by coronal mass ejections.

A violent eruption in the solar corona which ejects hundreds of millions or even billions of tons of ionized gas into interplanetary space.

A coronal mass ejection, or CME, is an ejection from the sun of material into interplanetary space. CMEs can disturb the earth's magnetic field or ionosphere if directed toward the earth.

Huge bubbles of gas, threaded with magnetic field lines, that are ejected from the Sun over the course of several hours.

a huge (like, larger than earth

a major event in the solar system, spewing particles and energy from the surface of the sun outward for billions of miles

an explosion of gas and charged particles into space from the corona, the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere

a sudden eruption of millions of tons of solar material, and a large portion of the sun can participate in the eruption," explained Thompson

when a large amount of the corona (the outer layer of the sun) is ejected into space. This happens in small amount with the solar wind. Larger amounts of the corona, as seen in a coronal mass ejection, can cause havoc with electrical equipment here on Earth

(CME). An observable change in coron al structure that occurs on a time scale between a few minutes and several hours, and involves the appearance of a new discrete, bright, white light feature in the coronagraph field of view, that displays a predominantly outward motion. The solar corona material is massive in size (they can occupy up to a quarter of the solar limb), and frequently accompanied by the remnants of an eruptive prominence, and less often by a strong solar flare. The leading edges of fast-moving CMEs drive giant shock waves before them through the solar wind at speeds up to 1200 km per second. Some astronomers believe that CMEs are the crucial link between a solar disturbance its propagation through the heliosphere, and the effects on the Earth.

An ejection of large amounts of matter from the sun's atmosphere, or corona. The corona is contained by magnetic fields that can suddenly rearrange, releasing an enormous bubble of matter.

The mass ejected from the Sun due to a solar flare.

High speed coronal mass ejections produce major disturbances in the solar wind. Often loop-like in appearance, coronal mass ejections rise as massive clouds of material from the solar atmosphere. Dangerous, high energy, charged particles are often produced in these disturbances and, when they are directed towards Earth, often produce large magnetic storms in the magnetosphere.

violent eruption of a large bubble in the Sun's outer corona, which sends huge amounts of ionized gas (particles) into the solar wind. An average CME releases a mass of particles equivalent to a mountain.

a huge cloud of hot plasma, occasionally expelled from the Sun. It may accelerate ions and electrons and may travel through interplanetary space as far as the Earth's orbit and beyond it, often preceded by a shock front. When the shock reaches Earth, a magnetic storm may result.

A huge magnetic bubble of plasma that erupts from the Sun's corona and travels through space at high speed. more

Coronal mass ejections (CME's) are huge, balloon-shaped plasma bursts that come from the Sun. As these bursts of solar wind rise above the Sun's corona, they move along the Sun's magnetic field lines and increase in temperature up to tens of millions of degrees. These bursts release up to 220 billion pounds (100 billion kg) of plasma. CME's can disrupt Earth's satellites.

A vast magnetic blob of plasma that erupts from the Sun's corona and travels through space at high speed. Coronal mass ejections may cause intense geomagnetic storms when they strike the Earth and accelerate vast quantities of energetic particles in both interplanetary space and the magnetosphere.

A vast region of hot, dense, and high speed solar wind propagating away from the Sun.

A coronal mass ejection (CME) is an ejection of material from the solar corona, observed with a white-light coronagraph.