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December 6, 2011

Solar Flares Shave Moon, Mars Surface

Michael Cooney, Network World


AP Photo

NASA scientists said today that massive solar storms like the ones being thrown off by the Sun of late shave off significant portions of the moon and can sandblast other magnetically unprotected planets like Mars.

Some 100 to 200 tons of lunar material - the equivalent of 10 dump truck loads - could be stripped off the lunar surface during the typical 2-day passage of one of the Sun's intense Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), according to William Farrell, Dynamic Response of the Environment At the Moon (DREAM) team lead at NASA Goddard.

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TAGGED: mars, moon, coronal mass ejection, solar storm

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