Eruptions Back and Front (December 9, 2011)

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The Sun blasted off a number of coronal mass ejections in just over two days (Dec. 7-9, 2011) by SOHO's C2 coronagraph. We superimposed the Sun from the Solar Dynamics Observatory to show what the Sun was doing during the same time frame. The first blast was determined to have originated on the far side of the Sun. The final, good-sized blast (lower left) was caused by the looping prominence eruption visible in the Sun image. The overall level of solar activity continues to increase as the Sun approaches its peak period activity called solar maximum, expected in 2013.

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.