coronal mass ejection

noun

: a tremendous outburst of energy from the corona of the sun that can cause disruptions in the earth's geomagnetic field

As they had for the January eruption, the researchers relied on an armada of spacecraft to track the disturbance, known as a coronal mass ejection because it originates in the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona.

—Ron Cowen

—abbreviation CME compare solar flare

Examples of coronal mass ejection in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Space Research Organization Netherlands astrophysicist Liyi Gu, who is another author of the study, and colleagues say the process that spawned the storm is not much different from the process that causes solar flares and coronal mass ejections from our own sun — just on a gargantuan scale. —Kiona N. Smith, Space.com, 9 Dec. 2025

Over the weekend, scientists with NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center caught a powerful coronal mass ejection (CME) expected to collide with Earth's upper atmosphere sometime Monday. —John Tufts, IndyStar, 8 Dec. 2025

Such activity, also known as space weather events, can include eruptions of high-energy light called solar flares, as well as coronal mass ejections, which are giant blobs of solar plasma and magnetic field blasted into space. —Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 19 Nov. 2025

Such speed has only been clocked in about 1 in every 2,000 coronal mass ejections released from our sun, according to the study authors. —Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 16 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1974, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for coronal mass ejection

• abjection
• advection
• affection
• bijection
• bisection
• collection
• complexion
• confection
• connection
• connexion
• convection
• correction