Heliophysics Science Division (670) Home Page
Stranded solar blast
The sun erupted with a good-sized solar flare and a coronal mass ejection (CME) on its far-side beyond the view of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), but the resulting strands of particle clouds as seen in extreme ultraviolet light still made for quite a show that lasted about three hours (Jan. 2, 2012).
Note how a portion of the strands fall back to the sun. It appears the force of the blast was unable, for some portion of the material, to overcome the pull of the sun's magnetic fields. This blast was not directed at Earth.
Image Source: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/potw.php?v=item&id=81
