This image shows a long filament of solar material, erupting into space. It happened on August 31, 2012. The accompanying coronal mass ejection (CME) traveled at over 900 miles per second (1,500 km/sec), rippling out into the solar system. Note: Earth to scale, but Earth is not this close to the sun. Image via NASA/ SDO spacecraft. A much-larger CME in the year 1859 caused the Carrington Event, which manifested as perplexing disruptions in the technologies then in use, such as the telegraph...
