Dynamic Earth: visualisation of a CME

This fulldome visualisation from the Earth science planetarium show Dynamic Earth shows Earth's geomagnetic field deflecting an incoming blast of solar particles from a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME).

Earth's geomagnetic field helps to deflect these solar particles around the planet, dramatically reducing the impact of the event.

The flowing material of a CME is actually in the form of ions and electrons, which are far too small to see. This visualisation represents the motions of these tiny particles in a form large enough for us to see.