Solar Wind Blasts Mercury and Erodes the Planet

Quite frightening when you think about it.

SpaceWeather.com

"evidence that gusts of solar wind are penetrating Mercury's magnetic field and eroding material off the planet's surface. The spacecraft has actually flown through plumes of ionized sodium scoured from the surface and escaping from weak points in Mercury's magnetosphere." from the article.

Obviously the solar wind will dissipate somewhat before it reaches Earth however this news, for me at least, makes me wonder what the real damage could be if we got a big direct hit.

Cheers

reply to post by myselfaswell


Wow, thanks for the link. I also find this very interesting info there...

A CME hit Earth's magnetic field on Sept. 26th, sparking one of the strongest magnetic storms in years. At the peak of the Kp=8 disturbance, auroras were sighted around both poles and more than half a dozen US states. Magnetic reverberations continued for more than 48 hours.

Who says that nothing is happening in the earth these days.

reply to post by myselfaswell


Hmm interesting, maybe that's why Mercury and Venus don't have moons? If the solar wind is powerful enough to erode the planet, than I can't see how it would allow moons to form.

reply to post by TupacShakur


Certainly a reasonable enough proposition.

Cheers

Awesome. Honestly, I don't understand how ol' Hg is still hanging in there. Tiny as hell, REALLY close to the sun...I wonder if its mag field is significantly stronger than Earth's? Anyhow, I live in northern IL, and I haven't seen northern lights since I was about 5, about 30 years ago. Maybe they've popped in once or twice and I missed it, but I'd like a good strong CME to see them again. I don't think we have much to worry about until the sun does something it hasn't ever been known to do, and directs it straight for us. We've had x20+ flares shoot a CME our way and got some pretty auroras, and some cell/radio/gps interference out of it.

This is pretty interesting, Mercury being a burnt out barren planet of no interest just got a little bit more enticing!
I know they used to think some of these craters were caused from Mercury's volcanic activity in the past but not all of the hollows were near volcanic known areas,now we know what is causing the majority of it.


Source

Mercury does not have an atmosphere so any solar storms effecting it will be that much more pronounced and effective in causing any damage,I do not think we have anything to worry about here on Earth

Nice post OP thank you, S & F

We have new comet in Sun direction, think is going to hit Sun next days ..

Is very nice to see this events live ..

You can see on LASCO C3 ..

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Already posted -
Mercury press conference today

Reply to post by myselfaswell

Erosion on a solar/planetary scale, wow. Good find, I wonder how this plays into the AGW models lol


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Hmmm I wonder if the SOL can reactivate VENUS its atmosphere is pretty dense maybe CONTRACTED AS OF NOW.

Originally posted by myselfaswell
Quite frightening when you think about it.

SpaceWeather.com

"evidence that gusts of solar wind are penetrating Mercury's magnetic field and eroding material off the planet's surface. The spacecraft has actually flown through plumes of ionized sodium scoured from the surface and escaping from weak points in Mercury's magnetosphere." from the article.

Obviously the solar wind will dissipate somewhat before it reaches Earth however this news, for me at least, makes me wonder what the real damage could be if we got a big direct hit.

Cheers

edit on 29-9-2011 by myselfaswell because: de-capitalise title

edit on 30-9-2011 by myselfaswell because: more precise title

You do realize how close mercury is to the sun right? As small as it is i'm surprised it even has a magnetic field.