Recently, NASA released a new video of a coronal mass ejection, or CME, in action. The CME was reported to be about 3 times the width of Earth and the length of about 7.5 Earths. A coronal mass ejection happens when fluctuations of the sun's magnetic fields cause a large portion of the surface of the sun to expand rapidly, ejecting billions of tons of particles out into space. The resulting magnetic waves have the potential to disrupt the Earth's magnetic field, and shift its alignment. When a CME hits Earth, humans are able to witness one of the most spectacular natural occurrences on our planet, the Auroras.
Filmed at the NASA's IRIS (Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph) labs, the camera has to be pointed at the Sun more than a day in advance, and catching the event involves more than just a bit of luck. The IRIS laboratory was imagined and the mission managed by the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory. This amazing video can be viewed below.