Unique Snake Phenomenon on the Sun Captured by Solar Orbiter

Intan Rakhmayanti Dewi, CNBC Indonesia

Tech

Tuesday, 25/07/2023 17:20 WIB

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – A huge snake looks as if it is slithering on the Sun. This is a unique phenomenon on the surface of the Sun that was caught by the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter tool.

From the tool, it can be seen that cold atmospheric gas cylinders are fired by a magnetic field so that they resemble snakes wrapped around the center of the solar system.

This phenomenon was photographed in extreme ultraviolet imagery, which shows the intense energy processes that occur in the Sun’s atmosphere. The pictures were taken over three hours and it is estimated that the ‘snake’ was moving at 170 kilometers per second.

All of the gas in the Sun’s atmosphere is plasma. Because the temperature reaches more than one million degrees Celsius, electrons are released from atoms.

However some parts are hotter than others. While the cooler parts form snakes. The cold plasma appears to be moving across the surface.

“You get the plasma flowing from one side to the other, but the magnetic field is completely random. So you get this change in direction as we look down at a crooked structure,” explained study leader David Long. IFL ScienceTuesday (25/7/2023).

Then the point of origin of the ‘snake’ and the filament erupts or is known as coronal mass ejections and when this happens a large amount of plasma is sent flying into space. If it hits Earth, it can cause a geomagnetic storm.

The location of the snake, filament, and coronal mass ejection all together is too coincidental. Currently the research team is investigating how the three are related.

The Solar Orbiter’s Energetic Particle Detector was active when the ejection occurred. It records the most intense solar energetic particle event ever recorded.

When the eruption occurred, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe was also swept away. This provides a view of the event as it orbits closer to the Sun, meaning it can measure eruptions.

Watch the video below: