On April 16th around 17:45 UT, magnetic fields curling over the sun’s northeastern limb rose up and erupted, producing one of the most visually-spectacular explosions in years.
The event, which also produced an M1.7-class solar flare and a coronal mass ejection, was not Earth-directed. Nevertheless, it confirms suspicions that a significant active region is rotating onto the Earth-side of the sun.
Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab have analyzed the trajectory of the cloud and found that it will hit NASA’s STEREO-B spacecraft, the Spitzer space telescope, and the rover Curiosity en route to Mars. Planets Venus and Mars could also receive a glancing blow.
Using data from SDO, Steele Hill of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center assembled a must-see movie of the event. It shows the explosion unfolding at 304Å, a wavelength which traces plasma with a temperature around 80,000 K.
Filed under: The Sun
