New Observation of a Coronal Mass Ejection:

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are quite possibly the most terrifying storms in the solar system (yes, even more horrifying than Jupiter"s Great Red Spot). Imagine an explosion that sends 100 billion kg (220 billion pounds) of superheated material storming towards you at speeds reaching 1000 km/second (2 million mph). That"s essentially what coronal mass ejections are. These events can release as much energy as one billion hydrogen bombs.

In short, these solar events are amazingly powerful and amazingly destructive. And we had an opportunity to witness one of these events recently, on December 16th and 17th.

See more images of this CME, as well as a video, at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/new-observation-of-a-coronal-mass-ejection/

Via:
NASA