Something Strange Is Happening on the Sun, and We've Never Seen It Before [View all]

This past week, a part of the sun’s surface broke off and started circling the sun’s north pole almost as if it were a giant polar vortex––and scientists don’t know why.

Space weather forecaster Tamitha Skov posted a video of the phenomena to Twitter, sharing her excitement.

“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,” she wrote. “Implications for understanding the Sun's atmospheric dynamics above 55° here cannot be overstated!”

The find is just the latest in a series of interesting space observations thanks to the capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope. According to NASA, solar prominence is a large bright feature that extends outward from the Sun's surface. Prominences consist of hydrogen and helium, and usually erupt when a structure becomes unstable and bursts outward, releasing the plasma.

Scott McIntosh, a solar physicist and deputy director at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, told Space.com that he has never seen a vortex like this but notes that something odd usually happens at the sun's 55 degree latitudes once every solar cycle.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7bm83/something-strange-is-happening-on-the-sun-and-weve-never-seen-it-before

It isn't that it's never happened, likely, but we never had the equipment to see it!