Two coronal mass ejections have combined into an enormous cloud of magnetized plasma that is forecast to hit Earth on Tuesday and potentially trigger a strong geomagnetic storm.
snap in half like an overstretched elastic band. If CMEs smash into Earth, they can cause geomagnetic storms — disturbances in our planet's magnetic field — that can trigger partial radio blackouts and produce vibrant aurora displays much farther away from Earth's magnetic poles than normal.
A cannibal CME is created when an initial CME is followed by a second faster one. When the second CME catches up to the first cloud, it engulfs it, creating a single, massive wave of plasma.
Cannibal CMEs are rare because they require successive CMEs that are perfectly aligned and traveling at specific speeds. But there have been several in the last few years.
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