An active region on the far-side of the Sun erupted with a massive Coronal Mass Ejection that expanded in a wide "halo" around the Sun (Mar. 5, 2013). The images were taken by SOHO's C3 coronagraph; the Sun is shown in extreme UV light from the SDO spacecraft. The bright dot with lines on either side (lower right) is Venus. That active region will be rotating into view from spacecraft near Earth in the coming days. The blast was heading towards Mars; Curiosity's operators are monitoring the situation.
Search Tag(s): lasco