NASA IRIS Captures its First Ever Gigantic Solar Eruption from Sun (VIDEO)

First Posted: Jun 02, 2014 11:26 AM EDT
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NASA astronomers have caught a coronal mass ejection with the help of its newest solar observatory. Scientists can now study the ejection of solar particles with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) in extraordinary detail.

IRIS first launched in June 2013. Its mission was to peer into the lowest levels of the sun's atmosphere with better resolution than ever before. Yet catching a CME in the act is no easy task; IRIS needs to commit to pointing at certain areas of the sun at least a day in advance, which means that catching a CME in the act involves some educated guesswork and quite a bit of luck.

"We focus in on active regions to try to see a flare or a CME," said Bart De Pontieu, IRIS science lead at Lockheed Martin Solar & Astrophysics Laboratory, in a news release. "And then we wait and hope that we'll catch something. This is the first clear CME for IRIS so the team is very excited."

Coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, occur when the sun hurls billions of tons of particles into space. When an Earth-directed CME occurs, these particles can interfere with our planet's magnetic field and can actually "supercharge" the Northern Lights and lead to a chance of a geomagnetic storm. This can also interfere with communication signals and cause unexpected electrical surges in power grids.

In this case, the CME erupted from the sun at speeds of 1.5 million miles per hour on May 9, 2014. The field of vision seen by IRIS was about five Earths wide and about seven-and-a-half Earths tall. The IRIS imagery actually focuses in on material of 30,000 kelvins at the base, or foot points, of the CME.

You can see the CME for yourself in the video below, courtesy of NASA and YouTube.

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