Coronal jets are small-scale transient ejections of hot gases, or plasma, occurring in the solar atmosphere. During a typical event, about a million tons of matter are ejected at speeds reaching a million miles per hour over a few minutes' time. The jets are believed to contribute significantly to the mass flow constantly ejected by the Sun, known as the solar wind. Despite their relative simplicity, jets may serve as a paradigm for more complex and far larger events originating in the solar atmosphere, such as coronal mass ejections.

Until recently, all jet observations suffered from an inherent limitation: because they were observed from a single viewpoint, their complete geometry could not be determined unambiguously. This situation improved dramatically once the stunning images from the SECCHI instruments onboard the twin NASA/STEREO spacecraft became available in early 2007.

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