The CME Heard 'Round the Solar System

  • Released Friday, November 30, 2018
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As the CMEs and SIRs move through the solar system, we include graphs of particle fluxes measured at Earth, Mars, and STEREO-A.

Energetic events at the Sun can reverberate around the solar system.

This visualization combines data from particle detectors around the solar system with an Enlil simulation of multiple coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in early September 2017. The Enlil model extends from 0.1 astronomical units (AUs) from the Sun (this is reponsible for the empty region around the Sun at the center of the system) out to 5 AUs.

Stream Interaction Regions (SIRs) are created by the interaction at boundaries between the fast and slow solar wind (usually defined by coronal holes). In this model, they are represented by blue spirals streaming out from the sun at the center.

Active Region 12673 erupted with several X-class flares and CMEs on September 9-10, 2017. The initial CME was slow (500 km/s) and the subsequent CMEs were faster (1000 km/s and 2600 km/s, respectively). Eventually the CMEs merged together and continued outward.

At Earth, the particle detector on GOES detects the initial flare. The energetic proton flux decays with time and has a sharper decrease as the CME and SIR pass Earth.

The initial flare is also detected at Mars by Mars EXpress, after which the flux declines. The flux experiences an additional sharp drop as the CME passes Mars.

There is a small flux increase at STEREO-A at the time of the flare. However, the flux increases dramatically as the SIR passes, then slowly decays.

First frame of the visualization, illustrating regions of high temperature (red), high particle density (green), and the stream interaction region (SIR, blue).

First frame of the visualization, illustrating regions of high temperature (red), high particle density (green), and the stream interaction region (SIR, blue).

Color bar representing changes in plasma density, in atomic mass units (AMU) per cubic centimeter. This is roughly equal to the number of hydrogen ions per cubic centimeter.

Color bar representing changes in plasma density, in atomic mass units (AMU) per cubic centimeter. This is roughly equal to the number of hydrogen ions per cubic centimeter.

Color bar representing the plasma temperature.

Color bar representing the plasma temperature.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio and the Community-Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC), Enlil and Dusan Odstrcil (GMU).

This page was originally published on Friday, November 30, 2018.
This page was last updated on Thursday, January 25, 2024 at 12:10 AM EST.

Missions

This visualization is related to the following missions:

Series

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Papers used in this visualization

Modeling the Evolution and Propagation of 10 September 2017 CMEs and SEPs Arriving at Mars Constrained by Remote Sensing and In Situ Measurement

Datasets used in this visualization

Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.