Another Proton Storm (February 3, 2012)

Hi-res TIF image (4.5M)

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Quicktime: Large ( 23M), Small (4.5M).
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An X1.7 flare (largest category) and a coronal mass ejection (CME) erupted from the Sun (Jan. 27-28, 2012) from the same active region that produced a smaller but Earth-directed storm a few days earlier. This resulting solar storm was not squarely Earth-directed, but the clouds of high-energy protons that it emitted continued to hit the SOHO spacecraft detectors for over a day and did generate a minor radiation storm on Earth. (SOHO is about a million miles towards the Sun from Earth.) The CME raced away from the Sun at a fast at 2500 km/s or 5.6 million mph clip.

SOHO began its Weekly Pick some time after sending a weekly image or video clip to the American Museum of Natural History (Rose Center) in New York City. There, the SOHO Weekly Pick is displayed with some annotations on a large plasma display.

If your institution would also like to receive the same Weekly Pick from us for display (usually in Photoshop or QuickTime format), please send your inquiry to steele.hill@gsfc.nasa.gov.