The plasma wave that stormed Mercury on April 12 is likely to trigger a geomagnetic storm and scouring material from the planet's surface, Live Science reported
The Sun has spewed a gigantic plasma wave into Mercury.
The plasma wave that stormed Mercury on April 12 is likely to trigger a geomagnetic storm and scouring material from the planet's surface, Live Science reported.
The sun's activity has been increasing far faster than scientists forecast.
The powerful eruption, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), was seen emanating from the sun's far side on the evening of April 11 and took less than a day to strike Mercury which is the closest planet to our star, according to spaceweather.com.
The storm may have created a temporary atmosphere and even added material to Mercury's comet-like tail, the report said.
The plasma wave came from a sunspot - areas on the outside of the sun where powerful magnetic fields, created by the flow of electric charges, get knotted up before suddenly snapping.
The energy from this snapping process is released in the form of radiation bursts called solar flares or as waves of plasma (CMEs).
On planets that have strong magnetic fields, like Earth, CMEs are absorbed and trigger powerful geomagnetic storms.
But unlike Earth, Mercury doesn't have a very strong magnetic field.
The atoms that are on Mercury are constantly being lost to space, forming a comet-like tail of ejected material behind the planet.
But the solar wind -- the constant stream...
Read Full Story: https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/science-tech/sun-storms-mercury-with-a-plasma-wave
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