Image Processing for the Study of CMEs

Solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are spectacular eruptions of plasma and magnetic fields that drive space weather in the near-Earth environment. Despite nearly thirty years of study, the basic physics that expels these plasma clouds into the solar system is still not well understood. We present advanced image processing methods we are developing to extract the evolving morphology and kinematics of CMEs and to compare these results with as yet unconfirmed predictions of theory.