Scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration unveiled video images earlier today of a massive coronal mass ejection, captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite.
Coronal mass ejections can shoot over a billion tons of particles into space at more than at an estimated speed of 900 miles per second, NASA was quoted saying by Space.com.
The CME that occurred May 1 is reportedly not headed toward Earth and the explosion's huge rolling wave of highly-energized particles that shot into space are headed in a different direction.
Data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration says CMEs can potentially affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground.
A CME is not the same as a solar flare, which is an explosion of hot gases and high-intensity light rays.
Solar flares are localized phenomena that push waves of light all across the spectrum, including light people can't see with their eyes alone, such as X-rays and gamma rays. The Earth's atmosphere absorbs most of these high-energy, potentially damaging rays.
But CMEs, expanding sometimes to several sizes bigger than the sun itself, can cause geomagnetic storms, temporary disturbances of the plant's magnetosphere caused by a solar wind shock wave, cloud of magnetic field that interacts with the Earth's magnetic field, or both.
Geomagnetic storms can affect the natural dynamics of the planet, the ways living creatures function and, yes, the power and communication networks upon which so many in the world rely.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory, launched on February 11, 2010, is a NASA mission planned to observe the sun for over five years.
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