CME Unfurling (January 26, 2007)

A bright and expansive coronal mass ejection (CME) unfurled itself over about an eight-hour period (January 24, 2006) this week. As seen in SOHO's LASCO C2 coronagraph, the bright front emerged in the shape of an arc from behind the occulting disk but soon expanded into a ragged, bulbous shape with lots of structural lines inside it. (The Sun is represented by the white circle in the center of the red occulting disk.) The source of this CME was apparently an active region just beginning to rotate into view the following day. Thus, in a week or so that region would be facing Earth and possibly pose a threat for more solar storms that could have some impact on us. That possible outcome remains to be seen.

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.