Origin Of Light

Space Weather animation Fusion Ignition Core Loops Breaching the surface of the Sun Loops on the Sun's surface Flares on the Sun Prominence on the Sun CME on the Sun CME leaving the Sun CME approaching Earth Earth and magnetosphere revealed and CME Impact Frontside reconnection and aurora Backside reconnection and aurora Aurora at the South pole This movie takes us on a space weather journey from the center of the sun to solar eruptions in the sun's atmosphere all the way to the effects of that activity near Earth. The view starts in the core of the sun where atoms fuse together to create light and energy. Next we travel toward the sun's surface, watching loops of magnetic fields rise up to break through the sun's atmosphere, the corona. In the corona is where we witness giant bursts of radiation and energy known as solar flares, as well as gigantic eruptions of solar material called coronal mass ejections or CMEs. The movie follows one of these CME's toward Earth where it impacts and compresses Earth's own protective magnetic bubble, the magnetosphere. As energy and particles from the sun funnel along magnetic field lines near Earth, they ultimately produce aurora at Earth's poles. Related pages