CRISISBOOM

If we were in the path of this CME, it would have been very bad.

The STEREO (Ahead) spacecraft caught this bright, substantial coronal mass ejection blast that emerged from the far side of the Sun, out of direct view from Earth (Mar. 21, 2011). Because it was from the far side (from Earth perspective), none of the ejected particle cloud was headed towards Earth. When that active region rotates around again, we will see if its potential power for generating solar storms remains as strong.