WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO THE SUN?
What actually happened was a bend of a long filament of plasma, which is a highly electrically charged gas, shot out of the surface. This event created a massive loop-like feature, which scientists call prominence. These likely have an origin in the magnetic field of the Sun's corona.
The Sun, at the moment, is in the midst of a solar cycle, and activity during a cycle transition relatively from being calm to active and stormy. According to Nasa, at its peak, known as solar maximum, the Sun’s magnetic poles flip. The last solar minimum occurred in December 2019, marking the start of Solar Cycle 25.
What has surprised astronomers is the fact that the prominence suddenly broke off and then remained airborne for hours over the poles. This made the astronomers refer them as polar vortex, which is a phenomenon seen on Earth when a large area of low pressure and cold air surrounds both of the Earth’s poles.
"This event which piqued the interest of the world is actually a stream of super hot plasma which was ejected from the Sun's atmosphere due to the disruption of a magnetic structure known as a prominence. This hot plasma was seen swirling around possibly due to the combined effect of gravity, convection and Coriolis forces. We often see polar vortices in other planets including Earth, where it can influence the weather significantly. Rarely do we see it in such detail on the Sun. The Sun's polar regions remain poorly observed and this event highlights the need for a fantastic voyage of exploration to the Sun's poles. This was emphasized in a recent vision document submitted to the US National Academy of Sciences by an international team of scientists, which I was privileged to lead" said Prof. Dibyendu Nandi, a physicist who heads the Center of Excellence in Space Sciences India at IISER Kolkata.
DOES IT POSE ANY THREAT TO EARTH?
No, at the moment, it does not pose any threat to Earth. What worries astronomers are the erupting filaments that release millions of tons charged up at speeds of a million kilometers per hour that rush towards inner planets. Astronomers have long struggled to understand the force driving these eruptions that originate from the Sun.
While several countries are prepping to better study the Sun.
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