Many type of eruption occurs on the Sun's atmosphere. but Solar flares and Coronal mass ejections are mainly. in both eruptions have many differences. both eruptions can occurs same time but both eruptions are originate in a different way. and they looks different from each other. and their effects are also different.
Both explosions occur when the Sun's interior moves against its own magnetic field. CMEs appear as giant clouds of particles hurled into space.
Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) :
- CME are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s outer atmosphere, i.e. Corona. CMEs release large quantities of matter away from the Sun's surface and into the solar wind and interplanetary space. The ejected material(billions of tons of coronal material) is a plasma consisting primarily of electrons and protons.
- More explosive CMEs typically begin when highly twisted magnetic field structures (flux ropes) are at the bottom of the corona, the Sun's outermost atmosphere. When the CME ejection occurs, the magnetic field of the Sunspots is so strong that these magnetic field lines also absorb the particles like plasma.
- CMEs emit Billions of tons of plasma, electrons or protons from the Sun.
- Speed of CMEs are range from 250-3000km/s.
- Minimum time taken by CMEs to reach our earth is 15-18h.
- As CMEs emit from corona then it's spreading and increases its own area of CMEs.
- CMEs meet solar winds and travel in interplanetary space and then this CMEs called interplanetary CME. in and when CMEs enter into the earth's atmosphere then it interact with earth's magnetic field. and form auroras. and damage the satellites, spacecrafts and electronics devices. and when its interacts with earth's magnetosphere then create geomagnetic storm. recently satellite's of spaceX was damages by strong or larger geomagnetic storm.
- When they pass by Earth, which is 1 AU (150 million miles) from the Sun, they can have a radial size of 0.25 AU. CMEs that are launched toward Earth are called Halo CMEs because as they approach Earth, they appear larger than the Sun, making a “Halo” of bright coronal emission completely around it.
- Near solar maxima, the Sun produces about three CMEs daily, whereas near solar minima, there is about one CME every five days.
- The frequency of ejections depends on the phase of the solar cycle: from about 0.2 per day near the solar minimum to 3.5 per day near the solar maximum. The occurrence rate of CMEs generally follows the 11-year solar cycle of sunspot activity, and CMEs occur more frequently and are most intense around solar maximum.
- ICMEs faster than about 500 km/s eventually drive a shock wave. CMEs traveling faster than the background solar wind can generate a shock wave. The Sun's corona was only visible for a few minutes during total solar eclipses.
