coronal mass ejection

coronal mass ejection

n.

A large eruption of plasma from the sun's corona that extends 8,000,000 kilometers (5,000,000 miles) into space.

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coronal mass ejection  (kôr-nl, kr-, k-rnl)

A massive, bubble-shaped burst of plasma expanding outward from the Sun's corona, in which large amounts of superheated particles are emitted at nearly the speed of light. The emissions can cause disturbances in the solar wind that disrupt satellites and create powerful magnetic storms on Earth. They were first observed in the early 1970s, when photographs taken from satellites revealed coronal activity that could not be seen in images taken from Earth.