Posted on 04/26/2013 7:35:42 PM PDT by oxcart
Two NASA spacecraft are safe and sound, after the sun unleashed three intense back-to-back solar eruptions in their direction, scientists say.
NASA's Messenger spacecraft in orbit around Mercury and the Stereo-A, which studies the sun from Earth orbit, suffered no damage from the passing solar storms.
On April 20, the sun fired off a solar eruption that sent huge wave of plasma and charged particles, called a coronal mass ejection (CME), toward Mercury. The next day, the sun unleashed two more CMEs in the same direction, and managers from both the Messenger and Stereo missions were alerted of the potential hazards should the CMEs hit or pass closely to the probes.
But, it appears both spacecraft made it through unscathed.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
It’s OK, because they sent the probes at night.
How silly. What they did was send the probe around to the backside, to approach in the Sun’s shadow.
Three times in a row prompts a question ... Could it be that the solar eruptions are caused by a gravity pull from Mercury itself?
Thanks oxcart.
Proof of anthropogenic solar warming. Or cooling. Whatever, it’s Bush’s fault.
Which Bush, 41, 43 or 45?
I was afraid the wax holding the feathers to its wings would melt and send it plummeting to Earth.
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