Coronal Mass Ejections

The Sun’s corona can rip open and spew as much as 20 billion tons of material into space. These explosions are known as Coronal Mass Ejections, or CMEs. Often loop-like or bubble-like in appearance, they are the hurricanes of space weather. An occulting disk was used to block part of the Sun so that its corona – the upper atmosphere – was more easily observed. Credit: NASA/SOHO