This video-based tutorial from the Goddard Space Flight Center provides lay explanations of the differences between solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The strongest solar flares are almost always correlated with CME's. Both involve gigantic explosions of energy, but they emit different things, they travel differently, and have different effects on planets in our solar system. Solar flares look like sudden bursts of light, they contain tremendous energy, and travel at the speed of light. CMEs are plasma clouds containing enormous amounts of magnetized particles. CMEs travel over a million miles an hour, but well below the speed of light. Large CMEs can interrupt or overload electrical grids, create auroras, and degrade radio transmission. Both are widely studied by NASA missions such as Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMR) the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).
Forces at a distance are explained by fields (gravitational, electric, and magnetic) permeating space that can transfer energy through space. Magnets or electric currents cause magnetic fields; electric charges or changing magnetic fields cause electric fields. (9-12)
Definitions of Energy (PS3.A)
At the macroscopic scale, energy manifests itself in multiple ways, such as in motion, sound, light, and thermal energy. (9-12)
These relationships are better understood at the microscopic scale, at which all of the different manifestations of energy can be modeled as a combination of energy associated with the motion of particles and energy associated with the configuration (relative position of the particles). In some cases the relative position energy can be thought of as stored in fields (which mediate interactions between particles). This last concept includes radiation, a phenomenon in which energy stored in fields moves across space. (9-12)
Crosscutting Concepts (K-12)
Energy and Matter (2-12)
Changes of energy and matter in a system can be described in terms of energy and matter flows into, out of, and within that system. (9-12)
Forces at a distance are explained by fields (gravitational, electric, and magnetic) permeating space that can transfer energy through space. Magnets or electric currents cause magnetic fields; electric charges or changing magnetic fields cause electric fields. (9-12)
Definitions of Energy (PS3.A)
At the macroscopic scale, energy manifests itself in multiple ways, such as in motion, sound, light, and thermal energy. (9-12)
These relationships are better understood at the microscopic scale, at which all of the different manifestations of energy can be modeled as a combination of energy associated with the motion of particles and energy associated with the configuration (relative position of the particles). In some cases the relative position energy can be thought of as stored in fields (which mediate interactions between particles). This last concept includes radiation, a phenomenon in which energy stored in fields moves across space. (9-12)
Crosscutting Concepts (K-12)
Energy and Matter (2-12)
Changes of energy and matter in a system can be described in terms of energy and matter flows into, out of, and within that system. (9-12)
<a href="https://www.compadre.org/precollege/items/detail.cfm?ID=16026">NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA: The Difference Between Flares and CMEs. Greenbelt: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, August 7, 2017.</a>
NASA: The Difference Between Flares and CMEs (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, 2017), <https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/the-difference-between-flares-and-cmes>.
NASA: The Difference Between Flares and CMEs. (2017, August 7). Retrieved March 15, 2026, from NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center: https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/the-difference-between-flares-and-cmes
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA: The Difference Between Flares and CMEs. Greenbelt: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, August 7, 2017. https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/the-difference-between-flares-and-cmes (accessed 15 March 2026).
NASA: The Difference Between Flares and CMEs. Greenbelt: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, 2017. 7 Aug. 2017. 15 Mar. 2026 <https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/the-difference-between-flares-and-cmes>.
@misc{
Title = {NASA: The Difference Between Flares and CMEs},
Publisher = {NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center},
Volume = {2026},
Number = {15 March 2026},
Month = {August 7, 2017},
Year = {2017}
}
%T NASA: The Difference Between Flares and CMEs %D August 7, 2017 %I NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center %C Greenbelt %U https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/the-difference-between-flares-and-cmes %O text/html
%0 Electronic Source %D August 7, 2017 %T NASA: The Difference Between Flares and CMEs %I NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center %V 2026 %N 15 March 2026 %8 August 7, 2017 %9 text/html %U https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/the-difference-between-flares-and-cmes
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