The sun erupted three times over April 20 and 21, sending billions of tons of solar particles into space. The eruptions (called CMEs) were not Earth-directed.
Friday's fast moving CME has reached Earth and sparked a mild geomagnetic storm. Will higher latitude skies be turned green for St. Patrick's Day?
A small, Earth-directed Coronal Mass Ejection erupted early this morning.
One of the two slow-moving ejections from Jan. 23 is Earth-directed. In the past, CMEs of this speed have not caused substantial geomagnetic storms.
On Jan. 13, 2013, at 2:24 a.m. EST, the sun erupted with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection or CME. The CME left the sun at speeds of 330 miles per second and is expected to impact Earth around Jan. 16.