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Rare Astronomical Phenomenon Thor’s Helmet and Prominence

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The prominence at this time was quite large in a short time





The Itera OAIL team observes rare astronomical phenomena (Dok.Itera.ac.id)

Bandar Lampung, IDN Times – The ITERA Lampung Astronomy Observatory Team (OAIL) is active in making various observations of astronomical phenomena. The goal is to develop knowledge and use technology.

Recently, the ITERA OAIL Team succeeded in observing two rare astronomical phenomena, namely the Thor’s Helmet Nebula and Prominensa phenomenon, commonly known as the flames of the Sun.

Using ITERA’s OZT-ALTS telescope, the OAIL Team consisting of Adhitya Oktaviandra, Aditya A Yusuf, Izatul Hafizah captured the Thor’s Helmet Nebula which is a nebula in the constellation of Canis Major. According to Adhitya Oktaviandra, Nebula is an interstellar cloud consisting of gas and dust.

There are several types of nebulae, namely reflection nebulae, emission nebulae, dark nebulae, and molecular clouds. Thor’s Helmet Nebula is a type of emission nebula.

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1. Called Thor’s Helmet Nebula, it looks like Thor’s helmet

The Itera OAIL team observes rare astronomical phenomena (Dok.Itera.ac.id)

Adhitya explained, emission nebulae can emit light because the main component of the nebula is hydrogen gas. The hydrogen electrons in the gas absorb energy from Ultraviolet light coming from the hot star around it.

The absorbed energy is then emitted through a recombination process, namely the process of moving electrons to a lower energy level.

“The glow resulting from this recombination process causes the nebula to have a pink color. While the blue color comes from the ionization process of the oxygen atom,” he explained, Tuesday (28/2/2023).

According to Aditya, NGC 2359 is called Thor’s Helmet Nebula because its shape is similar to the helmet of Thor, the god of the Norse culture. This nebula is 30 light years across and is about 3670 parsecs from Earth.

“This nebula was produced by a Wolf-Rayet (WR) star. In general, WR stars are divided into 2, the first type is rich in carbon atoms (WC) and the second type is rich in nitrogen atoms (WN).

2. Observe the flames of the Sun

The Itera OAIL team observes rare astronomical phenomena (Dok.Itera.ac.id)

The OAIL Itera team also made observations of the Prominence or the flames of the sun, using the Coronado Solarmax III 70mm f/5.7 Telescope at the alpha hydrogen wavelength at the Sumatra Institute of Technology. The prominence or commonly known as the “Solar flare” is a large feature stretching and forming loops (strands) sticking out from the surface of the Sun (Photosphere) to the outer atmosphere of the Sun (Corona).

Aditya said that the sun has an uneven magnetic field in every part of it. Even though the Sun still has north and south poles, due to rotation and the magnetic field which is everywhere and unstable, it causes sunspots (sunspots).

“If there is a sunspot, it means that the sun’s magnetic field enters or exits with plasma. Because it was formed in several places, it resulted in twisting collisions between them and a prominence,” he explained.

3. The cause of the solar storm phenomenon

solar storm illustration (nasa.gov/NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center | Genna Duberstein)

Aditya further explained, when these prominences break or collide with each other, they will form flares. Flares are solar explosions that occur when energy stored in a magnetic field is released suddenly and for a short time, so it seems as if the sky is getting brighter.

Then, he continued, if the released energy explodes into outer space on a large scale, the effect can even reach the magnetosphere, atmosphere and Earth’s magnetic field.

“This event is called the Solar Storm Phenomenon. This solar storm can impact power grids, global positioning systems, and artificial satellites due to power surges, for example it can blow up power transformers,” he explained.

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