UNITED STATES: Astronomers have been enthralled by the sun for a long time, and now a remarkable event has left them perplexed.
A large chunk of the sun broke away from its surface and formed a whirlwind-like event around its North Pole.
Though researchers are trying to explain the cause of this occurrence, the video of it has stunned the cosmic community.
The momentous occurrence was captured by NASA’s James Webb telescope and was shared on Twitter by Dr. Tamitha Skov, a space weather analyst, last week.
Since solar flares, which are usually released by the sun, can disrupt communication on Earth, this recent development has caused further concern for scientists.
“This is an incredible case of a Polar Vortex!” Material from a northern prominence just separated from the main filament and is now circulating in a huge polar vortex around the north pole of our star. “Its implications for understanding the atmospheric dynamics of the sun above 55 degrees cannot be underestimated!” This was the tweet posted by Dr. Skov last week.
According to NASA, a prominence is a big, glowing formation that projects from the sun’s surface. This type of occurrence has happened before, but this particular one has perplexed the scientific world.
Physicist Dr Skov wrote in a tweet that it took around 8 hours for materials to go around the pole at about 60 degrees of latitude.
This would mean the upper limit of the wind velocity in this event can be calculated at 96 kilometres per second, or 60 miles per second.
Solar physicist Scott McIntosh from the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research, who has been studying the sun for many years, stated that he has never seen a “vortex” like the one that took place when a part of the prominence was removed and was driven into the solar atmosphere.
Astronomers are currently reviewing the peculiar incident to procure more information regarding it and paint a more detailed portrait.
Even though we keep a close eye on our beloved star continually, it continues to astound us with unexpected occurrences, such as the multiple strong flares this month that impacted communication on the planet.
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