A Coronal Mass Ejection is a huge burst of solar wind, plasma, and other good stuff, sometimes shot in our direction.
We’re in the midst of one right now, and because of an overload, a little of this radiation will get past the doughnut shaped Van Allen Belts and create a beautiful image in the night sky. These auroras might even be visible as far down as New York State.
The thing is, without our planet’s peculiar make-up, and the presence of the Van Allen Belts, this solar phenomenon would have kept higher life forms from developing here. Organisms would have been burned to a crisp.
Mars is very desolate. Alas, it has no radiation belts to turn raging destruction into raw beauty.
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