SPACE — NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory took this image of a major event identified as the ‘highest tornado’ in the solar system. Early plasma swirled across the sun’s north pole during the event.
Twisting filaments of boiling plasma continued to bubbling in the sun’s atmosphere for three days last week. It reached a peak altitude of about 120,000 kilometers or 14 Earth times on Saturday, March 18, 2023, and then collapsed into a magnetic cloud of gas.
SpaceWeather reports that the collapse of a solar tornado ejects material from the sun’s atmosphere into the surrounding space. However, the material from the event is said to not affect our planet.
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Many amateur astronomers point their telescopes at the sun’s north pole after noticing these strange occurrences. “This rotating 14 Earth high column of plasma rains moon-sized patches of incandescent matter on the sun,” astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy tweeted Saturday, March 18.
“I can’t imagine a more horrific place (than that),” he explained what he observed.
The sun has been quite productive the past few days. British space weather forecasters the Met Office describe recent solar activity as moderate, with six sunspots visible on the disk. Sunspots are areas of denser magnetic fields that are darker and cooler on the surface.
“These largest spots, which are located near the southeastern edge of the sun, could generate solar flares and plasma eruptions in the coming days, which could affect space weather around Earth,” the Met Office said.
In addition, two coronal holes (openings in the sun’s magnetic field) currently exist in the sun’s upper atmosphere (corona). The two holes spewed out large amounts of strong solar wind. When it interacts with Earth’s magnetic field, the solar wind, which is a magnetic stream of gas, could trigger a geomagnetic storm on Earth in the coming days.
The Met Office predicts only minor G1 geomagnetic storms will occur. However, it is enough to enhance the aurora display at higher latitudes. Source: Space.com
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