On August 31, 2012, a long filament of solar material that had been hovering in the sun's atmosphere, the corona, erupted out into space at 4:36 p.m. EDT. The coronal mass ejection, or CME, traveled at over 900 miles per second. The CME did not travel directly toward Earth, but did connect with Earth's magnetic environment, or magnetosphere, causing aurora to appear on the night of Monday, September 3. (Photo by NASA/GSFC/SDO via The Atlantic)

A performer takes part in the opening of the Temple Fair, part of Chinese New Year celebrations at Ditan Park, also known as the Temple of Earth, in Beijing, February 18, 2015. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

Yakutsk, with a population of around 270,000, holds its own title: that of the coldest city on Earth. Here: Frost-encrusted house in the city centre. (Photo by Amos Chapple/Courtesy Images/RFE/RL)

Overlooking qingshuitan Wetland Park in the air, thousands of Chinese fir trees turn green. Gaoyou City, Jiangsu Province, China, April 20, 2020. April 22 is world earth day. (Photo credit should read Costfoto/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

Mina Sue Choi (L) from South Korea reacts after winning the Miss Earth 2022 pageant during the coro​nation night in Manila, Philippines, 29 November 2022. (Photo by Francis R. Malasig/EPA/EFE)

The top layer of muskeg and earth (L) is removed at the Syncrude tar sands operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta, September 17, 2014. Syncrude currently produces 350,000 barrels per day of high quality light, low sulphur crude oil according to company reports. (Photo by Todd Korol/Reuters)

Young Japanese women pose with a green bear costumed person during the 'Earth Parade 2015' in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, November 28, 2015. Ahead of the U.N. climate change summit in Paris starting this week, about 1,000 citizens and environmental activists took to the streets of Tokyo on Saturday, calling for strong actions to combat global warming. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA)

LAPD chopper flies in a foregraund of the Super Moon in Los Angeles, California on May 05, 2012. Tonight's moon is set to appear 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter from our perspective on Earth. The Supermoon lines up much closely with perigee – the moon's closest point to Earth. The 2012 May full moon falls some six minutes after perigee, the moon's closest point to Earth for this month. At perigee, the moon lies only 221,802 miles (356,955 kilometers ) away. Later this month, on May 19, the moon will swing out to apogee – its farthest point for the month – at 252,555 miles (406,448 kilometers) distant. (Photo by AFP/File, Joe Klamar)