Mercury has undergone a massive explosion of solar plasma, possibly causing "X-ray auroras"

Mercury was recently subjected to a massive explosion of solar plasma that erupted from the hidden back side of the Sun. This explosion probably caused invisible X-ray auroras around the planet's rocky surface. The explosion was so powerful that it was 40 times the size of the Earth. This explosion was triggered by a powerful solar flare that occurred around 7:00 p.m. ET on 9 March.

The explosion, which NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory assures covered about 500,000 km across, likely left behind a huge "gorge of fire" on the Sun's surface and caused a large coronal mass ejection (CME), a fast-moving cloud of magnetised plasma and radiation that collided with Mercury on March 10. Mercury is often affected by CMEs because of its proximity to our home star. The small planet has no atmosphere due to this bombardment and is completely exposed to the full force of these solar storms.

One of the biggest problems during solar maximum is that researchers can't properly monitor the back side of the Sun, which can hide giant sunspots that cause unexpected solar storms like the one that hit Mercury the other day. It is possible that these sunspots could turn towards Earth as the Sun rotates, exposing our planet to flares and coronal mass ejections.

Source: Spaceweather, Space