For the first time, a spacecraft far from Earth has turned and watched a solar storm engulf our planet.
The movie, released today during a NASA press conference, has galvanized solar physicists, who say it could lead to important advances in space weather forecasting.
CMEs are billion-ton clouds of solar plasma launched by the same explosions that spark solar flares.When they sweep past our planet, they can cause auroras, radiation storms, and in extreme cases power outages. Tracking these clouds and predicting their arrival is an important part of space weather forecasting.
