What Happens When Giant CME Slams Earth's Magnetic Field, Sun Spits Out An Earth Directed Coronal Mass Ejection

At 11:24 p.m. EDT on Oct. 4, 2012, the sun unleashed a coronal mass ejection (CME). Not to be confused with a solar flare, which is a burst of light and radiation, CMEs are a phenomenon that can send solar particles into space and can reach Earth one to three days later. Experimental NASA research models show the CME to be traveling at about 400 miles per second.

When Earth-directed, CMEs can affect electronic systems in satellites and on Earth. CMEs of this speed, however, have not generally caused major effects in the past. Further updates will be provided if needed.

NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (http://swpc.noaa.gov) is the United States Government official source for space weather forecasts. 

A giant explosion of magnetic energy from the sun, called a coronal mass ejection, slams into and is deflected completely by the Earth’s powerful magnetic field. The sun also continually sends out streams of light and radiation energy.

Much of the radiation energy that makes it through is reflected back into space by clouds, ice and snow and the energy that remains helps to drive the Earth system, powering a remarkable planetary engine – the climate. It becomes the energy that feeds swirling wind and ocean currents as cold air and surface waters move toward the equator and warm air and water moves toward the poles – all in an attempt to equalize temperatures around the world.

This animation was selected for the Computer Animation Festival’s Electronic Theater at the Association for Computer Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques (SIGGRAPH), a prestigious computer graphics and technical research forum. This is an excerpt from the fulldome, high-resolution show ‘Dynamic Earth: Exploring Earth’s Climate Engine.’ The Dynamic Earth dome show was selected as a finalist in the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival Science Media Awards under the category “Best Immersive Cinema – Fulldome”. 

A coronal mass ejection erupts from the Sun.

A coronal mass ejection approaches Venus.

A coronal mass ejection passes Venus.

What is a CME?

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