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Spotted: Solar flare more than seven times the size of Earth

IRIS is NASA's newest toy for studying the sun. It just observed its first solar eruption, and it was a doozy.

Eric Mack Contributing Editor
Eric Mack has been a CNET contributor since 2011. Eric and his family live 100% energy and water independent on his off-grid compound in the New Mexico desert. Eric uses his passion for writing about energy, renewables, science and climate to bring educational content to life on topics around the solar panel and deregulated energy industries. Eric helps consumers by demystifying solar, battery, renewable energy, energy choice concepts, and also reviews solar installers. Previously, Eric covered space, science, climate change and all things futuristic. His encrypted email for tips is ericcmack@protonmail.com.
Expertise Solar, solar storage, space, science, climate change, deregulated energy, DIY solar panels, DIY off-grid life projects. CNET's "Living off the Grid" series. https://www.cnet.com/feature/home/energy-and-utilities/living-off-the-grid/ Credentials
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This is why no one vacations on Mercury. Video screenshot by Eric Mack/CNET

NASA's newest sun-spying satellite caught its first solar eruption earlier this month, and it was a big one.

The coronal mass ejection (CME) observed by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, which launched last June, in the video below was the size of several Earths. According to NASA, the field of view is about five Earths wide and over seven Earths tall -- the size of the solar flare easily exceeds the field of view.

These are the kinds of moments of solar turmoil that have kept Mercury's tourism industry from ever really taking off. The Earth, however, remained safe from this massive flare orbiting at more than 92 million miles away from the sun.

Catching the below CME was actually a rather impressive stroke of luck as astronomers have to determine where they will point IRIS at least a day in advance; it just happened to be aimed at the right spot to catch this big blast.

Watch the whole thing below and try not to wish we had the means to construct a planet-sized marshmallow to roast on this sucker.