CME and Coronal Loops in Action

STEREO (Behind) had a nice profile view of spiraling corona loops above an active region after it had just popped off a coronal mass ejection (CME) on April 3, 2010. Faint clouds of material from the CME can be seen billowing into space at more than a million miles per hour. Right afterwards, magnetic forces trying to reorganize themselves generate a series of white arcs visible in extreme UV light. We are observing not the magnetic fields themselves, but electrically charged atoms spiraling along the field lines. The video clip covers one day of activity.

• 195cme_Apr_2010zm_best.mov   
• 195cme_April2010zm_sm.mov   
• 195cme_Apr_2010zm.mpg   
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