Space perturbations, bigger than Venus, may swallow it whole
22 Feb 2014 6:43 AM IST
Researchers recently discovered that a common space weather phenomenon on the outskirts of Earth’s magnetic bubble, the magnetosphere, has much larger repercussions for Venus.
The giant explosions, called hot flow anomalies, can be so large at Venus that they’re bigger than the entire planet and they can happen multiple times a day.
‘Not only are they gigantic,’ said Glyn Collinson, a space scientist at Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.
‘But as Venus doesn’t have a magnetic field to protect itself, the hot flow anomalies happen right on top of the planet. They could swallow the planet whole,’ said Collinson.
The work is based on observations from the European Space Agency’s Venus Express. The results show just how large and how frequent this kind of space weather is at Venus.
Earth is protected from the constant streaming solar wind of radiation by its magnetosphere. Venus, however, has no such luck.
The giant explosions, called hot flow anomalies, can be so large at Venus that they’re bigger than the entire planet and they can happen multiple times a day.
‘Not only are they gigantic,’ said Glyn Collinson, a space scientist at Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.
‘But as Venus doesn’t have a magnetic field to protect itself, the hot flow anomalies happen right on top of the planet. They could swallow the planet whole,’ said Collinson.
The work is based on observations from the European Space Agency’s Venus Express. The results show just how large and how frequent this kind of space weather is at Venus.
Earth is protected from the constant streaming solar wind of radiation by its magnetosphere. Venus, however, has no such luck.
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