Glossary term: Coronal Mass Ejection (CME)
Description: A coronal mass ejection (or CME) is the explosive expulsion of solar plasma and its magnetic field from the Sun (and other similar stars) into the heliosphere (or asterosphere in other stars). CMEs are magnetic explosions, typically associated with solar flares. A CME is a physical ejection of material, as opposed to a "flare", which is limited to the visible radiation. CMEs vary widely in structure, density, and velocity. Earth-impacting CMEs can result in significant geomagnetic storms.
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Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher
The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".
