Description
Coronal mass ejections release huge quantities of matter and electromagnetic radiation into space above the sun's surface, either near the corona (sometimes called a solar prominence) or farther into the planet system or beyond (interplanetary CME). The ejected material is a plasma consisting primarily of electrons and protons, but may contain small quantities of heavier elements such as helium, oxygen, and even iron. This needs verification as it is speculative at best, dubious at worst, and highly unlikely that a CME contains any substantial amount of heavier elements whatsoever, especially considering that the sun hasn't even arrived at the point of helium flash and thus cannot even begin to fuse elements heavier than helium. It is associated with enormous changes and disturbances in the coronal magnetic field.
Coronal mass ejections are usually observed with a white-light coronagraph.
Read more about this topic: Coronal Mass Ejection
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