PICK OF THE WEEK
Pick of The Week
Flurry of Action (April 30, 2003)
Movies
Over a very active three days this last week, at least nine solar
storms (either solar flares or coronal mass ejections) erupted on the
Sun (April 25-27, 2003). The still image of three LASCO C2
coronagraph frames shows the first and strongest CME. In it the
structures of the expanding cloud are unusually strong and clearly
defined. This and most of the others appear to have originated on the
front side of the Sun. EIT images of the Sun in extreme ultraviolet
light show erupting filaments associated with storms in at least
three instances. And over the course of the three days (as can be
seen in the video clip), by best estimate eight other storms occur,
quite a flurry of activity. None of these storms seemed to have much
impact on Earth as they were not Earth-directed, however the Sun
continues to be peppered with spots this week so more storms should
be expected.
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. |