SOLAR WEATHER and some interesti

Impact of a CME

When the ejection reaches the Earth as an ICME (Interplanetary CME), it may disrupt the Earth's magnetosphere, compressing it on the day side and extending the night-side magnetic tail. When the magnetosphere reconnects on the nightside, it creates trillions of watts of power which is directed back toward the Earth's upper atmosphere. This process can cause particularly strong aurora also known as the Northern Lights, or aurora borealis (in the Northern Hemisphere), and the Southern Lights, or aurora australis (in the Southern Hemisphere). CME events, along with solar flares, can disrupt radio transmissions, cause power outages (blackouts), and cause damage to satellites and electrical transmission lines.

Physical properties

A typical CME has a three part structure consisting of a cavity of low electron density, a dense core (the prominence, which appears as a bright region on coronagraph images) embedded in this cavity, and a bright leading edge. It should be noted, however, that many CMEs are missing one of these elements, or even all three.

Most CMEs originate from active regions (groupings of sunspots associated with frequent flares). These regions have closed magnetic field lines, where the magnetic field strength is large enough to allow the containment of the plasma; the CME must open these field lines at least partially to escape from the sun. However, CMEs can also be initiated in quiet sun regions (although in many cases the quiet region was recently active). During solar minimum, CMEs form primarily in the coronal streamer belt near the solar magnetic equator. During 15 g. Due to the two-dimensional nature of the coronagraph measurements, these values are lower limits. The frequency of ejections depends on the phase of the solar cycle: from about one every other day near solar minimum to 5–6 per day near solar maximum. These values are also lower limits because CMEs propagating away from the Earth ("backside CMEs") can usually not be detected by coronagraphs.

Current knowledge of CME kinematics indicates that the CME starts with an initial pre-acceleration phase characterised by a slow rising motion, followed by a period of rapid acceleration away from the Sun until a near-constant velocity is reached. Some "balloon" CMEs (usually the very slowest ones) lack this three-stage evolution, instead accelerating slowly and continuously throughout their flight. Even for CMEs with a well-defined acceleration stage, the pre-acceleration stage is often absent (or perhaps unobservable).

NASA Comet Hunter Set For Monday Launch

Weekend liftoff of WISE space telescope scrubbed due to faulty steering engine.

NASA delayed until Monday the launch of a space telescope designed to create a highly detailed map of the heavens and spot comets and asteroids that could pose a threat to life on Earth.

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, was slated to lift off from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base atop a Delta II rocket Friday, but a balky booster steering engine forced the delay.

"Mission managers have implemented a plan to resolve the issue," NASA said in a statement. Crews from the space agency will work over the weekend to remove and replace a suspect component, NASA said.

The forecast calls for an 80% chance of acceptable weather for Monday's launch. Plans call for the rocket to head south, traverse the California coastline, and veer out over the Pacific Ocean.

Once in orbit, WISE will use an infrared camera to map the cosmos.

The mission calls for the unmanned spacecraft to cover the entire sky one-and-a-half times, until its frozen coolant runs out. NASA hopes it will capture everything from near-Earth asteroids to distant galaxies teeming with stars.

"The last time we mapped the whole sky at these particular infrared wavelengths was 26 years ago," noted UCLA's Edward Wright, who is principal mission manager.

"Infrared technology has come a long way since then. The old all-sky infrared pictures were like impressionist paintings—now we'll have images that look like actual photographs," said Wright.

WISE is designed to provide information about the size, composition, and texture of near-Earth objects such as comets and asteroids. "We can help protect our Earth by learning more about the diversity of potentially hazardous asteroids and comets," said Amy Mainzer, deputy project scientist for the mission at JPL.

WISE will also attempt to document the cycle of life in the Universe, as it will capture faraway images of star-hatching galaxies and ravenous, planet-eating black holes.

Maybe it can also figure out what those blue lights over Norway were.