SOLAR EXPLOSION *PIC*

by Kaspel, Monday, February 21, 2005, 22:12

SOLAR EXPLOSION: Yesterday something exploded on the sun. We couldn't see the blast from Earth because the blast-site was hidden behind the sun's western limb. But the massive cloud it hurled into space was spotted by photographer Gary Palmer.

"Wow!" says Palmer. "This ultra-fast moving cloud re-wrote the definition of 'speed.'" It was pretty, too.

Solar farside explosions like this one have no effect on Earth, but they can interact with other planets. Yesterday's blast was directed more or less toward Mars. One day humans will go to the Red Planet; the colonists be very interested in this kind of solar activity.