THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
70 Falmouth Street Portland, Maine 04103
(207) 780-4249 usm.maine.edu/planet
43.6667° N 70.2667° W
Altitude: 10 feet below sea level
Founded January 1970
2021-2022: CI
“My grandpa started walking five miles a day when he was 60. Now he’s 97 years old and we have no clue where he is.” -Anonymous
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Thursday, March 31, 2022
Cannibal CME
The question prompted by today's DA might be, "Does everything in the Universe need a name?!" Heavens above, we have the "galbella" the space between the eyebrows. "gralix," the mish-mash ensemble of %$^$%&@!! that cartoonists put in place of the profanity they actually want to write, "antepenultimate," referring to anything just preceding the penultimate, which, itself, is defined as the second to last of anything, "Ornithoscelidaphobia," which, as you might have already guessed, is the irrational fear of dinosaurs, and, of course, "the pathological propensity for periphrasis and circumlocution," in reference to those undisciplined writers inclined toward superfluous verbiage -the word "verbiage" would have been sufficient- and intolerably long run-on sentences, something we're proud to assert does not afflict these well-honed and concisely crafted astronomical articles.
So, yes, perhaps everything in the Universe needs a name.
And that brings us neatly to "cannibal CMEs," or "cannibal Coronal Mass Ejections." A Coronal Mass Ejection refers to a cloud of charged particles erupting off the Sun. They tend to travel through space at millions of miles per hour and will often assault our planet's magnetic field a couple of days after their ejection. Although CME's tend to produce gorgeous auroral displays over a wide area, they could also disrupt the satellite-dependent communication systems.
So, what is a cannibal CME?
To explain, let's imagine two CME's in succession. The first one leaves the Sun and prepares to wreak havoc on the worlds in the inner solar system. Soon thereafter another, more powerful CME, is ejected. Provided it is traveling in the same direction as the CME which preceded it, this second CME will overtake, or devour, the first, resulting in a larger, potentially more dangerous CME. The combined CMEs form a cannibal CME.
One of them is striking our world right now. Last night, in fact, enchantingly beautiful aurora displays were visible in North Dakota. Regard the following image taken from www.spaceweather.com
While I am tempted to encourage you to venture outside tonight to see the aurora borealis, I will decline. First,the skies are predicted to be overcast throughout the whole accursed night. Secondly, aurora predictions are always dodgy. Case in point, the Aurora Alert posted on March 14th. Despite the hype and hoopla, nothing materialized. The aurorae remained confined to those remote regions of the upper hinterlands where one can still hear the midnight lamentations of hungry wolves and forlorn wraiths.
However, be well assured that Earth is presently shrugging away the charged particles of a powerful cannibal CME. Though we might miss the resultant northern lights this time, eventually other cannibal CME's will arrive. Provided the skies are clear, perhaps we'll then behold the celestial spectacle of an aurora.
To subscribe or unsubscribe from the Daily Astronomer: