24. What is the weather like in space? Are there explosions and storms? (A K2S Question)

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There are storms in space but they are unlike storms on Earth which can be a combination of high wind, rain and even oppressive heat. In space, which is a pretty good vacuum, extremes in temperatures can range from -250° F to over 200° F in the direct sunlight. If the Sun is in a very active part of its cycle, giant outbursts from the Sun called coronal mass ejections (CME) can hurl billions of tons of highly charged particles at high velocities toward Earth and any orbiting spacecraft. Astronauts would have some early warning from monitoring spacecraft like the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) so they could take shelter in the better radiation-shielded parts of the ISS.

Answer provided by Jim Zebrowski


Image:K2S logosmall.jpg Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer


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