An object that may be “the tallest tornado” in the solar system was caught by N.A.S.A’s Solar Dynamics Observatory as it swirled across the sun’s north pole.
Three days ago, a twisting filament of boiling plasma in the sun’s atmosphere continued to expand. On Saturday (March 18), it reached a height of about 75,000 miles (120,000 kilometers), or 14 Earths, before collapsing into a cloud of magnetized gas. According to SpaceWeather, the collapse of the solar tornado ejected material from the sun’s atmosphere into the surrounding space, but it will not have an impact on our world.
Many amateur astronomers pointed their telescopes at the sun’s north pole upon learning about the odd occurrence.
“This 14-Earths-tall swirling column of plasma was raining moon-sized gobs of incandescent material on the sun,” astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy tweeted on Saturday (March 18), sharing a sequence of his observations. “I can’t imagine a more hellish place,” he added.
The sun has been fairly productive over the past days. The U.K. space weather forecaster Met Office described its activity as “moderate,” with six sunspots (darker, cooler areas of dense magnetic fields), currently visible on the star’s disk. The largest of these spots, which is located near the sun’s southeastern edge, may produce solar flares and plasma eruptions in the upcoming days, which could affect space weather around Earth, Met Office said,
Related stories:
— Holes in sun’s atmosphere can help predict space weather on Earth
— Is the electric grid ready for extreme space weather?— Solar storms can destroy satellites with ease — a space weather expert explains the science
In addition to that, two coronal holes — openings in the sun’s magnetic field — currently exist in the sun’s upper atmosphere (corona), spewing large quantities of speedy solar wind. This solar wind, a stream of magnetized gas, might trigger geomagnetic storms at Earth in the coming days when it interacts with the planet’s magnetic field. Met Office only expects a minor, G1 geomagnetic storm, but even that could be enough to supercharge aurora displays at higher latitudes.
