We don’t want to alarm anyone, but the sun is broken.
Part of the Sun has left the surface and started circling the top of the star as if it were a huge polar vortex, and it’s not entirely clear why this is happening.
This observation was made possible by the James Webb Space Telescope, and not surprisingly, it has intrigued scientists everywhere.
Tamita Skoff is a space weather physicist who regularly shares updates on social media, and she got really excited about the latest developments.
“Talk about the polar vortex! Material from the northern prominence has broken away from the main filaments and is now spreading in a huge polar vortex around our star’s north pole,” she wrote.
“The implications for understanding the dynamics of the heliosphere above 55 degrees here cannot be overstated!”
Solar prominences are made of hydrogen and helium, which emanate from serving the sun and give off plasma.
While there is confusion about the cause of this phenomenon, it could be related to a reversal of the Sun’s magnetic field, as well as the fact that something predictable is known to happen when the Sun reaches latitude 55 degrees every 11 solar years. turn.
Heliophysicist Scott McIntosh, who is deputy director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, told Space.com: “Every solar cycle, it forms at about 55 degrees latitude and starts traveling toward the solar poles.
“It’s very strange. There’s a big ‘why’ question about it. Why does it move towards the pole only once and then disappear and then magically come back three or four years later in the exact same area?”
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