Astrophysics (Index)About

coronal mass ejection

(CME)
(mass of plasma ejected from the Sun)

A coronal mass ejection (CME) is a large mass of plasma with strong magnetic field lines ejected from the Sun, i.e., a massive burst of solar wind. They can be thought of as the largest activity of the Sun that occurs regularly within our observing timescale, their frequency ranging from about one per week at solar minimum to two-to-three times a day during solar maximum. They constitute the solar storms destructive of electronics and electrical infrastructure, but Earth is a relatively small target, completely missed by the vast majority. They vary in power and destructiveness, with an extremely destructive one striking Earth perhaps every 25 years, and other destructive ones perhaps every 3 years.

The same term is also used for the same phenomenon on other stars.


(Sun,stars,magnetism,event type,corona)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_mass_ejection
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/coronal-mass-ejections

Referenced by pages:
chondrite
DISCOVR
ejection
ESA Vigil
flux rope
Forbush decrease
geomagnetic storm
M dwarf
magnetic arcade
mass
mass loss
Moreton wave
quake
slitless spectrograph
solar energetic particle (SEP)
solar eruption
solar particle
solar particle event (SPE)
solar storm
space weather
stellar activity
STEREO
Sun surface features
sunspot
SWFO-L1
UVSC Pathfinder

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