Imagine billions of tons of material careening through space at 559,234 mph with Earth directly in its path! This image isn’t one of science fiction and has been happening every few weeks since the Earth was formed. Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are giant clouds of plasma with magnetic fields that violently explode from the furthest part of the sun’s atmosphere. CMEs have the potential to shut down electric power grids, disrupt satellites, and interrupt global communication systems and airline control. Using images of CMEs leaving the sun, obtained from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), we can create a model for CME speed and predict when they will hit the Earth. In this poster we present preliminary results from our model and compare predicted and actual CME arrival times at Earth.
