NASA | First Sightings of How a CME Forms

On July 18, 2012, a fairly small explosion of light burst off the lower right limb of the sun. Such flares often come with an associated eruption of solar material, known as a coronal mass ejection or CME -- but this one did not. Something interesting did happen, however. Magnetic field lines in this area of the sun's atmosphere, the corona, began to twist and kink, generating the hottest solar material -- a charged gas called plasma -- to trace out the newly-formed slinky shape. The plasma glowed brightly in extreme ultraviolet images from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) aboard NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and scientists were able to watch for the first time the very formation of something they had long theorized was at the heart of many eruptive events on the sun: a flux rope.

Eight hours later, on July 19, the same region flared again. This time the flux rope's connection to the sun was severed, and the magnetic fields escaped into space, dragging billions of tons of solar material along for the ride -- a classic CME.

More than just gorgeous to see, such direct observation offers one case study on how this crucial kernel at the heart of a CME forms. Such flux ropes have been seen in images of CMEs as they fly away from the sun, but it's never been known -- indeed, has been strongly debated -- whether the flux rope formed before or in conjunction with a CME's launch. This case shows a clear-cut example of the flux rope forming ahead of time.

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[JungleJargon]

That is the monster we cannot (physically) live without.

[Lowraith]

The video did not show the bending of light. It showed the bending of ribbons of plasma, which is hot matter that emits light. The light from the streamers traveled in a straight line to the satellite, which is how the video was able to record the event.

That's the same as thinking that you're bending light whenever you bend a glowstick bracelet. Glowing matter bent, the light did not.

[WaitWhat-qcsu]

I can't "thumbs up" on the iPad! Thumbs up! Totally here because of S0.

[drkstrong]

No, this was well known from older observations. Several solar researchers have told me personally that they are unhappy that the NASA PR machine is hyping this. These observations are higher resolution so we can make better measurements. Pictures like this were seen in 1980 by the SMM UVSP instrument. It has also been observed by ground-based telescopes (the Swedish Solar telescope on La Palma for example)

[zkz]

I like the level of detail presented in this video. Thank you.

[FizzicksDude]

This is important because they can watch for these strong magnetic fields and plasma streams to help predict a large CME that could damage space craft and satellites. In essence, we could put all the electronics in a "sleep mode" of sorts so that the circuitry avoids being destroyed.

[NexusEden]

Our Sun is amazing, definitely worth all the praise and worship. What an amazing beast.

[astrogirlusa]

Love it when we discover something new or, in this case confirm a hypothesis. Go NASA Explorer!

[Suspiciousbservers]

My channel is not a conspiracy channel - every word and image I use is cited with links to things like NASA, NOAA, ESA, NatGeo, IPS, DoD... my channel is about space, solar physics, and the earth-sun relationship. Ass.

[wazscience]

you are probably right in that they have been seen before, and the reason they didnt acknowledge them before could be from oversight instead of ego as you suggest

[scorpioxdi]

The way I understand this video is that they're not ignoring the observations of flux ropes that has gone before but because the new imaging technology they are now able to observe them *before* they actually pick up enough material to trigger the CME. I don't know enough about the older observation platforms to be sure but would that be a fair assumption?

[wild.legend-music]

Nice! What is the music in background?

[learnerlearns]

If you are referring to Saturn's hexagonal storm on its southern pole, that is caused by standing pressure waves.

If you are referring to the (comparatively) little triangular shape of high-temperature gas at 1:42, it is probably just an anomaly caused by surface temperature variations as heat is exchanged efficiently.

Nature obeys mathematical rules in orbits, seed placement, electron orbitals, growth patterns, etc. There's nothing mystical about these patterns.

[miguelpugmire]

2:58 looks like a monster coming out of the sun!...

scary :c

[maksphoto]

Flux rope? I better go fetch my flux capacitor :)

[Suspiciousbservers]

Antipsychotic medication... considering that all I do is point out the work of experts, you'll need a better explanation of that.

PS- I had to look-up risperdol... how are you so familiar?

[Godswrathishere]

hmm, so does that mean if the plasma were to come to the earth that we would not be able to see it? or is it just the ultra-violet that we would not be able to see? Would the plasma look like pink stars falling? Or lines of pink in the sky? Anyone know?

[crimsoncoin]

Suns own gravity field - quite pretty clse up

[DogAlpha]

Y SO sent me... 'No Fear'

[humanwrx]

2013 Jan 31 2200 UTC # Prepared jointly by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, # Space Weather Prediction Center and the U.S. Air Force. IIB. Geophysical Activity Forecast: The geomagnetic field is expected to be at quiet to active levels on day one (01 Feb) increasing to unsettled to active levels on days two and three (02 Feb, 03 Feb) as a coronal hole high speed stream becomes geoeffective and is, followed by a glancing blow from an earth-directed CME.