JustWondering Posted November 29, 2019 Share Posted November 29, 2019 (edited) Sorry in advance if this turns out to be a dumb question. Is it possible that a solar flare or CME could be caused by an impact of the sun by a meteor or asteroid? I imagine the sun is hoovering up various solar system stragglers most days but I'm not sure enough of the maths/physics as to whether this could be of any consequence given the size of the sun in comparison with any possible impactor. And a second question that leads from the first; would it be possible to detect such an impact OR what size and speed would any potential impactor have to be to for its impact to be detected? Edited November 29, 2019 by JustWondering Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solution Marcel de Bont Posted November 29, 2019 Solution Share Posted November 29, 2019 Hello and welcome. Most of the comets that approach the Sun burn up long before they can impact the Sun but it does happen that very large comets survive long enough before they hit the Sun. We can sometimes see comets on coronagraph satellite imagery as they approach the Sun. This YouTube video gives you a great example. I can't really answer your second question but comets do not trigger solar flares or CMEs. Imagine throwing a pebble in the Atlantic ocean. That is comparable to what a comet impact looks like on the Sun. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustWondering Posted November 29, 2019 Author Share Posted November 29, 2019 Thank you very much Marcel for the input. So, it sounds like the sun is just too big to worry about comets or asteroids have any real 'impact'! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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