A First for NASA's IRIS: Observing a Gigantic Eruption of Solar Material
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Source: images.nasa.gov
Video source record: https://images.nasa.gov/details-GSFC_20140530_IRIS_m11556_FirstCME
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Summary
| Description | A coronal mass ejection, or CME, surged off the side of the sun on May 9, 2014, and NASA's newest solar observatory caught it in extraordinary detail. This was the first CME observed by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, which launched in June 2013 to peer into the lowest levels of the sun's atmosphere with better resolution than ever before. Watch the movie to see how a curtain of solar material erupts outward at speeds of 1.5 million miles per hour. IRIS must commit to pointing at certain areas of the sun at least a day in advance, so catching a CME in the act involves some educated guesses and a little bit of luck. "We focus in on active regions to try to see a flare or a CME," said Bart De Pontieu, the IRIS science lead at Lockheed Martin Solar & Astrophysics Laboratory in Palo Alto, California. "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." The IRIS imagery focuses in on material of 30,00 |
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| Date | 2014-05-30 |
| Source | images.nasa.gov |