What if a solar flare hits the Moon?

The Moon is a different story. “The Moon is totally exposed to solar flares,” explains solar physicist David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center. “It has no atmosphere or magnetic field to deflect radiation.” Protons rushing at the Moon simply hit the ground–or whoever might be walking around outside.

Do solar storms affect the Moon?

Solar storms and associated Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) can significantly erode the lunar surface according to a new set of computer simulations by NASA scientists. The plasma from CMEs impacts the lunar surface, and atoms from the surface are ejected in a process called “sputtering.”

Can astronauts survive a solar storm?

What is the danger of a solar storm in space? Very high-energy particles, such as those carried by CMEs, can cause radiation poisoning to humans and other mammals. They would be dangerous to unshielded astronauts, say, astronauts traveling to the moon. Large doses could be fatal.

Do solar flares move moon dust?

The particles of the solar wind, upon reaching the lunar surface, can disturb the atoms in lunar dust. During a CME, the ions in the solar wind are heavier, and are capable of actually displacing loose lunar dust material upon collision with the moon’s surface.

Is there lightning on the moon?

Although Titan, Saturn’s largest satellite, has storms in an atmosphere thicker than Earth’s, Cassini hasn’t detected any evidence of lightning flashes or lightning-generated radio waves on the moon.

What is the strongest solar flare in history?

At 4:51 p.m. EDT, on Monday, April 2, 2001, the sun unleashed the biggest solar flare ever recorded, as observed by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite. The flare was definitely more powerful than the famous solar flare on March 6, 1989, which was related to the disruption of power grids in Canada.

What does solar flare look like?

What do solar flares look like? Despite the fact that some of them can last for a rather long time, solar flares generally happen too quickly to be seen by the naked eye. They appear as bright flashes of light that suddenly “flare up” on the sun’s surface, and are only visible and measurable using special instruments.

Does the moon get storms?

They saw bands or twilight rays in the sky around lunar sunrise/sunset. Without a thick atmosphere, the surface of the Moon just doesn’t have any appreciable weather and definitely doesn’t have storms like we have on Earth.