The CME Heard 'Round the Solar System
- Visualizations by:
- Tom Bridgman
- Written by:
- Mara Johnson-Groh
- View full credits
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.
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.
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).
Visualizer
- Tom Bridgman (GST) [Lead]
Writer
- Mara Johnson-Groh (Wyle Information Systems) [Lead]
Scientist
- M. Leila Mays (NASA/GSFC)
Technical support
- Ian Jones (ADNET)
- Laurence Schuler (ADNET)
Papers
This visualization is based on the following papers:Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Datasets used in this visualization
STEREO-A (Collected with the High Energy Telescope (HET) sensor)
Observed Data2017/09/10 - 2017/09/17
Dataset can be found at: https://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov
See more visualizations using this data setMars EXpress (MEX) (Collected with the ASPERA sensor)
Observed Data2017/09/10 - 2017/09/17
GOES (Collected with the Energetic Particle Sensor (EPS) sensor)
Observed DataNOAA2017/09/10 - 2017/09/17
Enlil Heliospheric Model (A.K.A. Enlil Heliospheric Model)
ModelCommunity Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC)2017/09/04 - 2017/09/24
MHD solar wind simulation
See more visualizations using this data setNote: 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.
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