Like Mercury, the Earth takes a beating from the sun's violent temper. Flares, sun storms and other solar hissy fits can cause electronic mayhem for the satellites that roam above our heads.
Fortunately, the earth is protected from its radiation by a magnetic shield, a kind of force field generated by our molten iron core.
Planetary magnetic fields are shield planets their surfaces and their atmospheres from charged particles that are always coming off the sun.
The auroras that light up our polar skies are evidence of our protective shields that work. Without it, life would not exist here. Visit Mercury, and you will be visiting the only other planet in the inner solar system with a magnetic field. But it's very existence defies explanation.
Now the mystery there is that in order to have a magnetic field, you need to have a interior to the planet that is at least partially molten.
Whatever machanism is driving Mercury's magnetic field, it's too weak to protect it from the full force of the sun. The solar wind buffets Mercury's stain atmosphere. And in the process, it puts on a light show.
不管是什么機械機制駕馭著水星的磁場,它都太弱以致于不能保護它受到太陽的全部力量。太陽風(fēng)削減了水星的大氣污染層。而在此過程中,它上演了一場燈光秀。
注:聽力文本來源于普特