Scientists are trying to understand the impact this huge prominence will have on Earth:
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.
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.
[...] Space scientists are now analyzing the strange event to gather more details about it and present a clearer picture.
(Score: 4, Funny) by looorg on Friday February 10, @05:21PM
Screw you guys, I'm starting my own sun ... with blackjack ... and hookers ...
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 10, @05:24PM
Today the forecast calls for cold and dark. Like more or less every day of the last several millennia since the dawn of time. Easiest job ever.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Nuke on Friday February 10, @05:31PM (10 children)
They were looking at the Sun with the James Webb telescope? I thought it was looking into deep space. I'm surprised it doesn't fry its sensors if it looks at the Sun.
(Score: 4, Informative) by istartedi on Friday February 10, @06:17PM
Yeah, something's not right. It can't look at anything too bright [nasa.gov], scroll down to item 10 under the "What can Webb look at? " link at the top if that doesn't work.
I tried to see if I could find out anything about a separate Solar observation 'scope on the craft, but I couldn't. I've still got questions.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 3, Informative) by iWantToKeepAnon on Friday February 10, @07:00PM (3 children)
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
(Score: 5, Interesting) by iWantToKeepAnon on Friday February 10, @07:02PM (1 child)
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 10, @08:27PM
It looks like you're interested in writing about chatGPT. Hi, I'm Clippy. Some call me the original chatGPT. Would you like a template for writing a bunch of believable copy-pasta waffle?
(Score: 2) by iWantToKeepAnon on Wednesday February 15, @03:07AM
Ahh, a hoax ... nobody's stunned. In retrospect it probably would have been a better hoax had ChatGPT written it!
https://www.youtube.com/live/hG-chU1EnLM?t=1529 [youtube.com]
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
(Score: 5, Touché) by DannyB on Friday February 10, @07:27PM (1 child)
If a certain unnamed president could look at the sun without eye protection on August 22, 2017, then it must be safe for everyone to do so.
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday February 10, @10:43PM
Yeah, but he bleached his eyeballs before looking.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by fab23 on Saturday February 11, @08:51AM
It probably was not the James Webb telescope, as NASA has a lot of other telescopes specially looking at the sun, see e.g.: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/overview/ [nasa.gov]
(Score: 3, Touché) by mcgrew on Saturday February 11, @04:17PM (1 child)
Obviously somebody had what my late mom called a "senior moment" that young people call a "brain fart". It's probably STEREO, that one is designed to look at the sun.
What surprises me more is that researchers didn't expect the sunny tornado.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 2) by mrpg on Sunday February 12, @01:17AM
The roadrunner writers would call it lapsus brutus.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Snospar on Friday February 10, @06:45PM
We fooled them with chorizo before, let's add some AI sauce and get them again!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Barenflimski on Friday February 10, @07:09PM (3 children)
I have watched that video. It looks to me like a magnetic loop of plasma broke, and was recaptured by the sun. I'm no physicist, but seems like the vector didn't have the energy to escape the gravity of the sun
I'm not sure why this is a big deal?
Does anyone have any idea why this is a thing, and why this would matter, other than to dial in some equations?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by janrinok on Friday February 10, @08:31PM
The plasma is still there exhibiting (according to the latest reporting that I can find) the same characteristics, and that is most unusual. The problem is that such events can play havoc at very short notice with communications - both satellite and terrestrial.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by captain normal on Friday February 10, @08:48PM
"Does anyone have any idea why this is a thing, and why this would matter, other than to dial in some equations?"
Humm...maybeit's just click bait for New Delhi Television?
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 11, @09:43PM
Brah, a huge chunk of the SUN literally broke off. That's the technical term for it. Shit, like, BROKED OFF the Sun. Solar scientists said "holy shit, man, that shit's fucked up". I'm literally quoting NASA here.
(Score: 3, Informative) by DannyB on Friday February 10, @07:33PM (4 children)
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: 2, Touché) by khallow on Saturday February 11, @03:48AM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday February 13, @05:38PM
Well, the fifth golden bowl is the kingdom of the beast being plunged into darkness.
"Oh, no! Twitter just went down! The loss to humanity is incalculable!"
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Saturday February 11, @03:59PM
you're missing an "e" in bowl...
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday February 11, @04:26PM
So, global warming ISN'T from CO2 and methane?
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 4, Funny) by EJ on Friday February 10, @09:58PM
Is Oracle trying to break up its holdings?