Introduction to Astronomy

News : 10/4/2011

Mercury and the Solar Wind

The MESSENGER spacecraft has detected emission of oxygen and sodium ions near the poles of Mercury, caused by the solar wind crashing into the planet surface, driven by Mercury’s magnetic field. The ions then form a plasma similar to the Aurora on Earth

Comets Crashing Into the Sun:Can They Cause CMEs?

• A sun-grazing comet crashes into the sun. A split second later, a huge corona mass ejection occurs. Coincidence? Perhaps not.

Sungrazers Are Quite Common

• These form a family of comet fragments generated by the breakup of an ancient enormous single comet.