A giant plasma wave exploded from the sun and collided with Mercury, likely causing a magnetic storm and wiping material from the planet’s surface. The powerful outburst, known as the Coronal Mass Emission (CME), was seen emanating from the far side of the sun and took less than a day to hit the planet closest to our star and furthest small planet in our solar system, where it may have created a temporary atmosphere and even added material to Mercury’s comet-like tail.
According to the “RT” site, the plasma wave came from a sunspot, which are regions outside the sun where strong magnetic fields, resulting from the flow of electric charges, intertwine, before suddenly exploding.
The energy from this gravitational pull is released as bursts of radiation called solar flares or as plasma waves (CME).
On planets that have strong magnetic fields, such as Earth, ejected coronal planets are absorbed and cause strong geomagnetic storms.
During these storms, the Earth’s magnetic field is slightly compressed by waves of high-energy particles, which travel along magnetic field lines near the poles and excite particles in the atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of light to create colorful auroras in the night sky.
And “Live Science” has previously reported that the movements of these electrically charged particles can stimulate magnetic fields strong enough to send satellites to Earth, and scientists have warned that these geomagnetic storms can cripple the internet.
Unlike Earth, Mercury does not have a very strong magnetic field. This fact, along with its proximity to our star’s plasma emissions, means that it has long been stripped of any permanent atmosphere. The remaining atoms on Mercury are constantly lost to space, forming a comet-like tail of matter ejected behind the planet.
But the solar wind, the constant stream of charged particles, the nuclei of elements such as helium, carbon, nitrogen, neon and magnesium from the Sun, and the tidal waves of particles from the coronal mass ejection are constantly replenishing quantities of tiny Mercury atoms. , giving it a thin layer of atmosphere.
Previously, scientists didn’t know if Mercury’s magnetic field was strong enough to cause magnetic storms. However, the study, published in two articles in Nature Communications and Science China Technological Sciences in February, proves that the magnetic field is already strong enough.
The first paper showed that Mercury has a ring current, a cake-like circular flow of charged particles flowing around a field line between the planet’s poles, while the second paper indicated that this circular current is capable cause geomagnetic storms.
“The processes are quite similar to what happens here on Earth. The main differences are the size of the planet and Mercury has a weak magnetic field and no atmosphere at all,” said Hui Zhang, co-author of both studies and professor of space physics. at the Fairbanks Institute of Geophysics at the University of Alaska, said in a statement.
The sun’s activity is increasing much faster than previous official predictions, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center. The sun moves between the highest and lowest level of activity in a cycle of regarding 11 years, but since the mechanism behind this solar cycle is not well understood, it is difficult for scientists to accurately predict its duration and strength.
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