SOHO Pick of the Week A Proton Storm Erupts
An X-class (scientific term for very strong) solar flare (not
pictured) and a coronal mass ejection (CME) blasted off of the sun,
rocketing high-energy protons into the SOHO imager within minutes of
the storm’s onset. The first two images LASCO C3 instrument show the
expanding CME and the particles appearing as white specks. The third
image shows the storm just beginning to ease up over two days later.
This storm caused brilliant aurora to appear over much of the Earth
on Nov. 5 and 6 and was the most intense proton storm of the current
solar cycle. The Sun, blocked by an occulting disk, is represented by
the white circle. The breadth of view of the C3 instrument is 30
solar radii.
