The Corner

Weather in Space

Oh, you didn’t know there is weather in space? There sure is, and it could wipe us out.

The surface of the sun is a roiling mass of plasma — charged high-energy particles — some of which escape the surface and travel through space as the solar wind. From time to time, that wind carries a billion-tonne glob of plasma, a fireball known as a coronal mass ejection … If one should hit the Earth’s magnetic shield, the result could be truly devastating.

Plasma globs — One more think to worry about while doing your taxes. You want gloom? We got gloom.

John Derbyshire — Mr. Derbyshire is a former contributing editor of National Review.
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