An artist's rendering of the spacecraft in the SWIFT constellation stationed in a triangular pyramid formation between the sun and Earth. A solar sail allows the spacecraft at the pyramid's tip to hold station beyond L1 without conventional fuel. Credit: Steve Alvey, University of Michigan.

A computer-generated image shows where rotating magnetic fields form at the edges of a coronal mass ejection 15 hours after a solar eruption. The coronal mass ejection is the large bubble extending from the sun at the left edge of the image. Two streams of plasma extend from the edge of the coronal mass ejection as it hits neighboring streams of fast and slow solar wind. Shades of red and yellow depict the strength and orientation of the plasma's magnetic field (labeled "Bz" in the figure legend). Shades of red represent plasma that could trigger geomagnetic storms if it hits Earth, while shades of yellow represent plasma with a strong, positive orientation. The red-brown circle around the sun shows the area not covered by the simulation, about ten million miles wide. Credit: Chip Manchester, University of Michigan.

A computer-generated image shows how the stream of plasma extending from the coronal mass ejection stirs up tornado-like flux ropes 40 hours after the initial eruption. The tornadoes appear as vortices in the image because the columns extend toward the viewer. The tip of the plasma stream that originates from the coronal mass ejection is in yellow, and the two other flux ropes are shown as red spirals below and to the right of the yellow plasma. Shades of red and yellow depict the strength and orientation of the plasma's magnetic field (labeled "Bz" in the figure legend). Shades of red represent plasma that could trigger geomagnetic storms if it hits Earth, while shades of yellow represent plasma with a strong, positive orientation. Credit: Chip Manchester, University of Michigan.