by SPACE.com Staff
Date: 14 August 2012 Time: 12:54 PM ET
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NASA's Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO)
spacecraft observed this fast-moving coronal mass ejection on July 23,
2012. Because the CME is headed in STEREO's direction, it appears like a
giant halo around the sun. CREDIT: NASA/STEREO |
A powerful sun storm in July unleashed a wave of plasma and charged particles into space, and scientists now say this solar outburst may be one of the fastest ever recorded.
On July 23, the sun blasted a massive cloud of solar material, called a coronal mass ejection(CME), into space, sending it whipping by NASA's twin STEREO spacecraft. Scientists used STEREO's observations to calculate that the speedy CME was traveling between 1,800 and 2,200 miles per second (2,900 and 3,540 kilometers per second).
That's about 6.48 million to 7.92 million miles per hour (10.43 million and 12.75 million kilometers per hour).
MORE: http://www.space.com/17103-sun-eruption-fastest-solar-plasma-cloud.html
Sources: Space.com, NASA
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