Far-Side "Halo" blast (March 8, 2013)

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An active region on the far-side of the Sun erupted with a massive Coronal Mass Ejection that expanded in a wide 'halo' around the Sun (March 5, 2013). The images were taken by SOHO's C3 coronagraph; the Sun is shown in extreme UV light from the SDO spacecraft. The bright dot with lines on either side (lower right) is Venus. That active region will be rotating into view from spacecraft near Earth in the coming days. The blast was heading towards Mars; Curiosity's operators were monitoring the situation.

SOHO began its Weekly Pick some time after sending a weekly image or video clip to the American Museum of Natural History (Rose Center) in New York City. There, the SOHO Weekly Pick is displayed with some annotations on a large plasma display.

If your institution would also like to receive the same Weekly Pick from us for display (usually in Photoshop or QuickTime format), please send your inquiry to steele.hill@gsfc.nasa.gov.