

"I can see some very small changes in shape of the tail," he says, "and the brightness is slightly increasing." Voltmer says the tail is so bright, he could see it in individual 30 second exposures. Sebastian Voltmer observing Mercury from La Palma on April 27, 2022. Without this kind of sodium filter, Mercury's tail would be invisible.Ībove: Dr. "I used a 589 nm filter tuned to the yellow glow of sodium," says Voltmer. Some of them are probably wondering "why didn't I see the tail?"Īnswer: A special filter is required.

People around the world have been watching Mercury climb up the evening sky this month. This creates a yellow-orange tail of sodium gas that is around 2.5 million kilometers long." "How is the tail formed? The solar wind and micro-meteorites eject sodium atoms from Mercury's surface. "This is NOT a comet, not even a meteor, but the planet Mercury, which is currently very close to the Pleiades," says Voltmer. Sebastian Voltmer just photographed it from La Palma in the Canary Islands: THE SODIUM TAIL OF MERCURY: Planets aren't supposed to have tails, but Mercury does. Confirmation of a miss awaits fresh data from SOHO coronagraphs. Debris from the explosion does not appear to be heading for Earth. M-CLASS SOLAR FLARE: A spotless region of the sun exploded on April 29th (0730 UT), producing a beautiful M1-class solar flare. Neutron counts from the University of Oulu's Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory show that cosmic rays reaching Earth are slowly declining-a result of the yin-yang relationship between the solar cycle and cosmic rays. Credit: SDO/HMIĬosmic Rays Solar Cycle 25 is beginning, and this is reflected in the number of cosmic rays entering Earth's atmosphere.

Almost all of them are crackling with minor C-class solar flares. There are eight numbered sunspot groups on the sun today.
