How to Look for Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)

Below is a current coronagraph image of the sun.

First, get familiar with what you’re seeing: The blue circle in the center is the occulting disk, which blocks out the sun. The dark diagonal stripe in the bottom left of the image is the shadow of the arm that supports the occulting disk. The small white circle shows the size of the sun.

Now look for CMEs, which appear as large white blobs projecting from the blue disk at the center. If the white blob seems to surround the blue circle entirely, like a halo, then this coronal mass ejection is headed toward the earth.

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