Massive ‘polar vortex’ on sun stuns astronomers

By Around the Web

Coronal mass ejection on sun (video screenshot)
Coronal mass ejection on sun (video screenshot)

(NDTV) – The Sun has always fascinated astronomers. And now, a new development has baffled scientists. A huge part of the Sun broke off of its surface and created a tornado-like swirl around its North Pole. Though scientists are trying to analyse how this occurred, the video of the development has stunned the space community. The remarkable phenomenon was caught by NASA’s James Webb telescope and shared on Twitter by Dr Tamitha Skov, a space weather forecaster, last week. The Sun keeps emitting solar flares (called prominence) that sometimes affect communications on Earth, hence scientists are more concerned about the latest development.

“Talk about Polar Vortex! Material from a northern prominence just broke away from the main filament & is now circulating in a massive polar vortex around the north pole of our Star. Implications for understanding the Sun’s atmospheric dynamics above 55 degrees here cannot be overstated!” Dr Skov said in a tweet last week

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According to NASA, the prominence is a large bright feature extending outward from the Sun’s surface. There have been several such instances in the past but this one has stumped the scientific community.

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