A Coronal Mass Ejection (aren’t we lucky!)

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 a really big 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.  Go north of I-95 and perhaps you might see them here in Connecticut.

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 long ago been burned to a crisp.

Mars is very desolate.  Alas, it has no radiation belts to turn raging destruction into raw beauty.