Watch Mercury Get Smacked By CMEs

The bright object in the center of this video sequence is the planet Mercury, seen by NASA’s STEREO-B spacecraft as it was pummeled by wave after wave of solar material ejected from the Sun during the week of March 25 – April 2, 2012.

The video above was released by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center earlier today. The Sun is located just off-frame to the left, while Earth would be millions of miles to the right.

Proof that it’s not easy being first rock from the Sun!

Video credit: NASA/GSFC/STEREO

Jason Major

A graphic designer in Rhode Island, Jason writes about space exploration on his blog Lights In The Dark, Discovery News, and, of course, here on Universe Today. Ad astra!

Recent Posts

Astronomers Will Get Gravitational Wave Alerts Within 30 Seconds

Any event in the cosmos generates gravitational waves, the bigger the event, the more disturbance.…

20 hours ago

Next Generation Ion Engines Will Be Extremely Powerful

During the Space Race, scientists in both the United States and the Soviet Union investigated…

23 hours ago

Neutron Stars Could be Capturing Primordial Black Holes

The Milky Way has a missing pulsar problem in its core. Astronomers have tried to…

24 hours ago

Japan’s Lunar Lander Survives its Third Lunar Night

Space travel and exploration was never going to be easy. Failures are sadly all too…

1 day ago

Black Holes Can Halt Star Formation in Massive Galaxies

It’s difficult to actually visualise a universe that is changing. Things tend to happen at…

1 day ago

Mapping the Milky Way’s Magnetic Field in 3D

We are all very familiar with the concept of the Earth’s magnetic field. It turns…

2 days ago