Sequential Blasts (August 30, 2013)

Hi-res TIF (1.0M)

Movies: QT: Large (5.1M), Small (1.5M)
MPEG (2.0M), MP4 (1.8M) M4V (460K)

In less than a day two large-scale coronal mass ejections (CMEs) erupted into space (Aug. 19-20, 2013). The first and larger one is called a "halo CME" because the spreading front edge of the particle cloud extends all around the Sun. If you are quick, you can also see a comet (seen as a faint streak) approaching the Sun from the lower left just before the first eruption.

The images were taken by STEREO's COR2 coronagraph in which the Sun (represented by the white circle) is blocked out by a black occulting disk so that we can see fainter structures beyond it. This same event was observed from a different angle by SOHO and featured here.

The images were taken by SOHO's coronagraphs in which a disk (black) blocks the Sun and some of the area around it so we can see faint structures beyond that. Here we superimposed the Sun from NASA's SDO. The movie covers about five hours of activity.

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.