CME IMPACT POSSIBLE ON NOV. 8TH: A MAGNETIC FILAMENT ON THE SUN ERUPTED NOV. 5TH, HURLING A CLOUD OF DEBRIS INTO SPACE.

CME IMPACT POSSIBLE ON NOV. 8TH: A magnetic filament on the sun erupted Nov. 5th, hurling a cloud of debris into space. NOAA forecasters say the resulting coronal mass ejection (CME, movie) could strike Earth's magnetic field on Nov. 8th. G1-class geomagnetic storms and bright Arctic auroras are possible when the CME arrives. Free: Aurora Alerts

'CANYON OF FIRE' OPENS ON THE SUN: Yesterday, Nov. 5th, a filament of magnetism in the sun's northern hemisphere became unstable and erupted. The blast split the sun's atmosphere, hurling a CME into space and creating a "canyon of fire," shown here in a movie recorded by the Solar Dynamics Observatory:

The glowing walls of the canyon trace the original channel where the filament was suspended by magnetic forces above the sun's surface. From end to end, the structure stretches more than 200,000 km--a real Grand Canyon.

Fragments of the exploding filament formed the core of a CME that raced away from the sun faster than a million mph: movie. NOAA analysts have modeled the trajectory of the CME and concluded that it will probably strike Earth's magnetic field on Nov. 8th. The impact could spark G1-class geomagnetic storms and auroras at high latitudes.