Venus Impacted by Enormous Explosions On Outskirts of Earth's Magnetic Bubble

The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has spotted giant explosions called hot flow anomalies occurring near Venus. Researchers found that these explosions are occurring multiple times a day and can be bigger than the solar system's second planet from the Sun.

Space scientists view these explosions as a big concern for Venus because, unlike Earth, it doesn't have a magnetic field to protect itself from such dangers. Earth is lucky enough to be protected from streaming solar wind thanks to the magnetosphere. This space weather phenomenon continues to be examined by NASA.

The NASA website defines a magnetosphere as an "area of space, around a planet, that is controlled by the planet's magnetic field." The Earth's magnetosphere protects particles from the Sun from coming into contact with Earth. Life on Earth as been able to develop and sustain because of the magnetosphere.

On the other hand, the barren planet of Venus has no magnetic protection and its atmosphere is so dense that it would crush a spacecraft within hours. Venus' only protection is provided by the ionosphere, which is not strong enough to repel these hot flow anomalies.

Space scientist Glyn Collinson of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has been studying these explosions and noted that they have the ability to swallow Venus. The frequency of these explosions is making Venus vulnerable to possible irreparable damage.

His paper has been published in the Journal of Geophysical Research this month and is based on observations from the European Space Agency's Venus Express. A diagram displaying Venus' ionosphere, the effects of solar wind, and the result of the hot flow anomalies can be found on the NASA website.

The space scientists are continuing to study two questions: what happened differently at Earth to make it into the life-supporting planet it is today and what would Earth be like without its magnetic field?

More information about this topic can be found on the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center website along with other space-related discussions.