Witnessing a Coronal Mass Ejection!

Last weekend, during the annual visit from my Spanish astrophotographer friends, we had an amazing time observing – and more importantly, capturing – the rapid evolution of a truly beautiful coronal mass ejection (CME).

This timelapse was shot on August 24, 2014, with a modified PST and a trusty Canon 1100D. We’re talking about an M5.9 magnitude flare here! The first frame was snagged at 12:18, and the last at 12:31 – that’s a total recorded duration of just 12 minutes! Pretty wild, right? Photo credit goes to Julio Corredera, Mikel Martinez, and yours truly, Cédric Thomas.

And here’s the stabilized black & white version for ya: