We don’t want to alarm anyone, but the sun is broken.
Part of the Sun has left the surface and begun to orbit the top of the star as if it were a giant polar vortex, and it’s not entirely clear why this happened.
This observation was made possible by the James Webb Space Telescope, and it’s no surprise that it’s piqued the interest of scientists everywhere.
Tamitha Skov is a space weather physicist who regularly shares updates on social media, and seemed very excited about the latest developments.
“Talk about a polar vortex! Material from the northern bulge has separated from the main filaments and is now spreading into a massive polar vortex around the north pole of our star,” she wrote.
“The implications for understanding the dynamics of the Sun’s atmosphere above 55 degrees here cannot be overstated!”
Solar prominences are composed of hydrogen and helium, which emerge from the service of the Sun and release plasma.
While there is confusion about the cause of this phenomenon, it is possible that it is 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 55 degrees latitude every 11 solar years. turn.
“Every solar cycle, it forms at 55 degrees latitude and starts marching toward the solar poles,” heliophysicist Scott McIntosh, deputy director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, told Space.com.
“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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