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CMEs are not actually emitted uniformly over the whole spherical surface of the sun. Instead it's much closer to a Gaussian distribution centered on the eclipt
by bananabreakfast 5y ago
CMEs are not actually emitted uniformly over the whole spherical surface of the sun.
Instead it's much closer to a Gaussian distribution centered on the ecliptic.
- medstrom 5y agoFor anyone not in the know, the ecliptic is the plane of the Earth's and most planets' orbit.
- philjohn 5y agoIs there any reason for that - gravitational forces from the planets perhaps?
- monkeybutton 5y agoPerhaps due to the sun's rotation?
- penteract 5y agoI'd guess that it's related to the sun's rotation - the sun's equator roughly lies on the ecliptic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_rotation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_rotation
- jointpdf 5y agoI believe it is the fact that the solar system was once a spinning ball of gas and dust, and the spinning motion caused the cloud to flatten out into the protoplanetary disk. Like flattening a ball of pizza dough by spinning it in the air. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protoplanetary_disk https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protoplanetary_disk https://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/physics/astrocourses/ast201/origin_ss.html https://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/physics/astrocourses/ast201/o...
- triclops200 5y agoWhen the solar system formed, the gas cloud collapsed along the shortest axis first into a spinning disc and then formed the planets and sun. This naturally aligns the largest bodies in most systems along the astral axis.