I wasn’t aware of this:<\/p>\n
The sun is windy. Every day, 24\/7, a breeze of electrified gas blows away from the sun faster than a million mph. Solar wind sparks beautiful auroras around the poles of Earth, sculpts the tails of comets, and scours the surface of the Moon.<\/p>\n
Would you believe, Earth is windy, too? Our own planet produces a breeze of electrified gas. It\u2019s like the solar wind, only different, and it may have important implications for space weather on the Moon.<\/p>\n
\u201cEarth wind\u201d comes from the axes of our planet. Every day, 24\/7, fountains of gas shoot into space\u00a0from the poles<\/a>. The leakage is tiny compared to Earth\u2019s total atmosphere, but it is enough to fill the magnetosphere with a riot of rapidly blowing charged particles. Ingredients include ionized hydrogen, helium, oxygen and nitrogen.<\/p>\n
Once a month, the Moon gets hit by a blast of Earth wind. It happens around the time of the full Moon when Earth\u2019s magnetic tail points like a shotgun toward the lunar disk. For 3 to 5 days,\u00a0lunar terrain is bombarded<\/a>\u00a0by H+<\/sup>, He+<\/sup>, O+<\/sup>, N2+<\/sup>\u00a0and other particles. [“A New Form of Space Weather: Earth Wind<\/a>,” Dr. Tony Phillips, <\/em>Spaceweather.com<\/strong>]<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Fascinating. And I wonder if those particles would constitute a hazard to any Moon-dwelling humans?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I wasn’t aware of this: The sun is windy. Every day, 24\/7, a breeze of electrified gas blows away from the sun faster than a million mph. Solar wind sparks beautiful auroras around the poles of Earth, sculpts the tails of comets, and scours the surface of the Moon. Would \u2026 Continue reading