NASA captured a massive tornado on the surface of the Sun, releasing a cloud of electrically charged hot gas about six times the size of Earth.
The gas cloud was spotted Thursday at NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.
This is accompanied by a powerful coronal mass ejection, a type of sending charged particles into space, according to Space Meteorology.
The gas cloud is not emitted towards Earth, so it is not dangerous for humans. Still, it's a symptom of the sun's current restless state, which is increasing as solar activity approaches its peak.
About every twelve years, the Sun's poles flip upside down. This causes our star to emit more sun**, sunspots, flares, and storms than it would be when it was quiet. Eventually, the sun reaches its peak of activity and begins to settle down again.
Scientists**, this peak will occur in the next year or so. In the meantime, they are keeping a close eye on it.
Solar weather is largely harmless to humans, but the peak of solar activity increases the risk of a very rare, once-in-a-lifetime solar storm whose power could short-circuit power grids and destroy communication systems.
The Solar Observing System currently does not have enough equipment to ** such a storm, which will soon be felt on Earth.
Increased solar activity could also expose deep-space astronauts to greater radiation risks, which is a major obstacle when space agencies plan to send astronauts to the moon. For example, NASA hopes to launch the Artemis 2 mission in 2024 to allow astronauts to fly around the moon.
Experts previously told reporters that the term "solar tornado" is just a nickname for structures found on the sun, and people still have a poor understanding of it.
Matthew Owens, professor of space physics at the University of Reading, said: "What we're seeing here is a polar crown filament. The filament is a huge, twisted magnetic narrow that sits above the surface of the sun, sometimes for months. ”
When these magnetic fields are subjected to excessive tension and eventually rupture, the plasma is released.
Weidemeyer, a professor of solar physics at the University of Oslo who studies the phenomenon, told reporters in March that the word "tornado" implies the rotation of the structure, but that may be a misnomer.
"You basically have two possibilities," Weidemeyer said. Either you have some structure that's held together by a really rotating magnetic field, or you're looking at a plasma – hot gas – that follows some pre-distorted magnetic field that looks like it's rotating, but just moving up and down like a slight spiral. There is a theory that if there is a real rotation there, this could trigger or destabilize the entire structure, which could lead to this eruption. ”