SDO Provides First Sightings of How
a CME Forms
Solar scientists have long known that at the heart of the great explosions of solar material that shoot off the sun — known as coronal mass ejections or CMEs — lies a twisted kink of magnetic fields known as a flux rope. But no one has known when or where they form. Now, for the first time, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory as captured a flux rope in the very act of formation.
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Eight hours later, on July 19, the same region flared again. This time the flux rope's connection to the sun was severed, and the magnetic fields escaped into space, dragging billions of tons of solar material along for the ride — a classic CME.
More than just gorgeous to see, such direct observation offers one case study on how this crucial kernel at the heart of a CME forms. Such flux ropes have been seen in images of CMEs as they fly away from the sun, but it's never been known — indeed, has been strongly debated — whether the flux rope formed before or in conjunction with a CME's launch. This case shows a clear-cut example of the flux rope forming ahead of time.
Watch this video on YouTube.

The image on the left shows a series of magnetic loops on the sun, as captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on July 18, 2012. The image on the right has been processed to highlight the edges of each loop and make the structure more clear. A series of loops such as this is known as a flux rope, and these lie at the heart of eruptions on the sun known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs.) This is the first time scientists were able to discern the timing of a flux rope's formation.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO
Animators
- Scott Wiessinger (KBRwyle)
- Tom Bridgman (GST)
Writers
- Karen Fox (ADNET)
- Scott Wiessinger (KBRwyle)
Video editor
- Scott Wiessinger (KBRwyle)
Scientist
- Angelos Vourlidas (Johns Hopkins University/APL)
Producer
- Scott Wiessinger (KBRwyle)
Narrator
- Scott Wiessinger (KBRwyle)
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SDO
Dataset can be found at: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/
See more visualizations using this data setSDO AIA 131 (A.K.A. 131 Filter) (Collected with the AIA sensor)
Dataset can be found at: http://jsoc.stanford.edu/
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