Raging Solar Tornado Five Times Wider Than Earth Filmed for the First Time
- Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:27am by
Liz Klimas
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(Image: NASA/SDO/AIA/Aberystwyth University/Li/Morgan/Leonard via Discovery News)
For the first time, researchers have managed to catch a solar “tornado” — more scientifically known as solar prominences — on film. It is large enough to swallow a hundred Earths, according to National Geographic, and is one of many that could be influencing solar storms that send radiation toward Earth.
Watch the footage released at National Astronomy Meeting on Thursday:
National Geographic reports that these tornado-like events on the surface of the sun are nothing new — they’ve been observed for decades, but this latest one is supposedly the biggest yet:
“The structure is huge … and the velocity of the material is several tens to hundreds of thousands of kilometers per hour,” said Xing Li, an astronomer at Aberystwyth University in Wales, who co-authored a new study describing the vortex.
“It is a real gem of an event to fire the imagination—and it is a good way to study magnetic structures in the sun’s atmosphere.”
What starts these solar events, according to Discovery News, is not entirely clear, but researchers hope studying what they’ve filmed will give some insight into their origins and how they could influence coronal mass ejections:
“Prominences are tangled magnetic fields trapping cold and dense plasma in the solar corona,” Li [...] told Discovery News. “These often erupt spectacularly and fly out into space as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and large CMEs will impact our space weather and space technology in a significant way when they are heading toward the Earth.
Li hypothesizes that the tornadoes may produce the conditions favorable for CMEs to occur. Co-author Huw Morga said spotting these storms could help predict CMEs.
(Related: Strongest solar storm in years bombarding Earth with radiation)
Even though some of the tornadoes are huge — the one spotted on Sept. 25, 2011, was about 120,000 miles wide and traveled up to 190,000 miles per hour — Discovery News reports they are harder for researchers to see than you might imagine:
Firstly, as they are magnetic structures, if the tornado is empty of radiating plasma, they will remain invisible. Only when hot plasma is being dragged high into the corona can they be seen. Conversely, should the tornado be completely flooded with plasma, you wouldn’t see the motion of the material as the radiating plasma would be completely washed out.
Li highlights the need for discrete objects inside the swirling mass so they can be tracked as they move around the tornado. He likens this to the dust and bits of debris that a terrestrial tornado would pick up. Without these objects, we couldn’t “see” the spinning wind currents. The same goes for solar tornadoes; discrete “blobs” of plasma can be tracked as they are accelerated and carried high into the corona by the tornado’s magnetic field.
“Also, we believe that the angle you view the tornado from is important,” Li added. “For example, if you imagine the slinky structure mentioned above, if you view it from the side it may not appear so clearly as a tornado.”
The magnetic tornadoes were spotted by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
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Comments (60)
Mikev5
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 2:49pmIf you think Man has or is causing global warming look at this and you will get what is causing this so called global warming.
That is MASSIVE could swallow a 100 earths wow we are a speck of a speck in this cosmos.
Report Post »brickmoon
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:53pmHeresy! This colossal tornado is undeniable evidence that we must do everything we can to stop solar warming.
Report Post »burnteye86
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 2:41pmGod’s awesomeness on display
Report Post »FlatFoot
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 3:11pmIt is going to be so awesome when we one day have the capability to travel to our Sun without getting burnt to a cinder.
Oh, wait, I forgot — NASA’s mission now is to try and make Muslims feel good about themselves and their scientific accomplishments from 2,000 years ago ever since 0bama took over. Nevermind.
Report Post »Cesium
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 3:06pmguess what, 98% of scientists on this project accept evolution as truth.
Report Post »youdidthis
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 2:05pmMUST SEE!!! DISCLOSURE!!! NEW Ancient Mayan artifacts found!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ue63DMKN0M&feature=related
Bizarre “Sun Signs” Phenomenon (2012) The End is Near?
Report Post »http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1D3OLdTgEs&context=C43afb8eADvjVQa1PpcFNMRzNgHU7ndUQuecvFlFDwLYToW8ODs64=
youdidthis
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 2:06pmsorry for dbl post
Report Post »youdidthis
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 2:03pmBizarre “Sun Signs” Phenomenon (2012) The End is Near?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1D3OLdTgEs&context=C43afb8eADvjVQa1PpcFNMRzNgHU7ndUQuecvFlFDwLYToW8ODs64=
MUST SEE!!! DISCLOSURE!!! NEW Ancient Mayan artifacts found!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ue63DMKN0M&feature=related
wake up…you have been lied 2…
Report Post »BostonHarold
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 4:10pmWhat the heck does your demented nonsense have to do with solar tornados? The Blaze never ceases to amaze me.
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 7:07pmYOU has a hard time focusing on the topic at hand. Just ignore him.
Report Post »jakartaman
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 2:00pmWe have just left the cycle of a calm earth – we now are on the eve of a cycle that will begin to get very serious with major climatic and environmental upheavals. Things like mega tornados and increased frequency, volcanic action, possibly mega volcanos thunder/hail storms etc etc.
Report Post »ThankBabyJesus
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 2:36pmTry as we might “climate change” is going to happen anyway. Cold or Hot. The traitors who use this as political points will eventually run out of excuses to burn through tax payer money. Freaking scam. The point is to pay attention to it like so many honest scientists do in their field. And act with certainty and not “good politics” for ref. a volcano eruption gives out more carbon dioxide than anything we humans can produce in the short term.
Meanwhile we have ass-hats in office who think it’s appropriate to regulate cow farts and dog dust crushing the American Farmers and main source of food.
Report Post »VRW Conspirator
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 1:59pmAWESOME…absolutely awesome…
Report Post »too bad most of the students in high school would look at this and say “why is that important?” as they sit and thumb their way to carpel-tunnel syndrome by age 25…
God..please…could a few of these take out all the cell phone satellites… please? just the cell networks and the mp3 players…want to see America wake up really quick…kill those two technologies and you would have 40 million young people looking around in a haze wondering what to do with their lives….
glassaudioguy
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:46pmCell phones don’t go through satellites. They go through terrestrial towers.
Report Post »rollthebones
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 1:37pmThat is amazing. I love it.
Report Post »pap pap
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 1:36pmAnd they say this Global Warming thing which doesn’t exist is man made how ?
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 1:27pmI wonder if the Athiest still think there is no hell after seeing that. You would have to have a lot of faith in nothingness, that’s for sure.
Report Post »I wonder if they chant..”There is no hell, there is no hell”? I personally wouldn’t take the chance.
Cesium
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 3:02pmidiot
Report Post »Basy
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 1:22pmI am sure this is man caused celestial warming too.
Report Post »Johnny Cocheroo
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 1:09pmNo words to describe what is going on. I find things of this sort to be totally awe inspiring. The twister is several times larger than the earth – that alone to me is pretty me uncomprehensible.
I’ll admit – I’ve always fantasized about being able to physically visit some of these environments just to be a witness of the amazing energy on display. I suppose that sometime in the future it could be possible.
Report Post »Damn_Lucky
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 1:31pmIf we survive the mess we are in now.
Report Post »unrealistic
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 1:03pmwhat is with the 70′s horror film music and the whirling noise? does sound suddenly travel through space?
Report Post »MtrmnMike
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 9:20pmI wonder why they felt it was necessary to add a sound effect…the visual is awesome enough on its own. To your question regarding ‘sound’ traveling through space: it doesn’t. But we can “hear” the noise that the sun and planets (especially Jupiter & Saturn) generate from their magnetic fields & atmospheric events, through radio waves. This is then reproduced it into a discernible sound…usually static, crackles, whistles, etc. But that is not what’s in the video.
Report Post »Also make note of the time stamp on top…it’s all time lapsed, and at different rates. It would not appear that impressive in real time.
Doctor Nordo
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 7:32pmSound doesn’t travel through space, but the sun is still a very noisy place and those solar twisters most certainly do produce sound. You‘d just have to be within the sun’s atmosphere to hear them.
Report Post »zoro51
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 12:53pmauntie em.. auntie em… uncle henery oh toto its a twister,…..
Report Post »HTuttle
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 12:49pmBush’s FAULT!
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 1:06pmIt is air from the flappers and yappers.
Report Post »shogun459
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 12:44pmI wonder how much hotter summer is going to be if a couple of these are pointed at us?
Remember how hot it was the weeks following the last one?
Report Post »MtrmnMike
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 9:32pmThese events have no effect on earth’s temperature…at least not in the short term. When solar storms, flares or coronal mass ejections (cme’s) reach us, they interact with our magnetic field, with the strongest ones possibly disrupting our electronic systems. They don’t harm us physically (at least at ground level).
Report Post »There is, however, evidence thet increased solar activity can result in warmer temps…as extended solar minimums have coincided with mini iceages.
Maxim Crux
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 12:42pmHow did they get the mic close enough to record that sound that goes along with the video? Those guys are really good.
Report Post »Common.Cents
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 12:35pmWhat is absolutely insane. I cannot even begin to imagine the power in that. The storm is 120000KM wide at the top. That could almost consume JUPITER. Are you kidding? (Jupiter is 146000km at the equator) WOW, that is so so so much power. If man was able to some how harness just a bit of it, we could power earth for thousands of years.
Report Post »shogun459
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 12:43pmLook up Dyson Sphere and Dyson Ring. Theory only
Report Post »Johnny Cocheroo
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 1:25pmPowerful enough that it will eventually expand & consume our planet earth.
We are the ancients – living in a lost Eden where life sprung forth into the universe. Pretty freakin cool.
Report Post »Common.Cents
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 8:03pm@Shogun Wow! that Dyson sphere is crazy. That would reduce our need on coal. =) I think with all that power, and all the technology required to make it, by that point you would think that we would have the technology to morph elements to whatever we want. Of course Glenn wouldnt like that, seeing as gold could be made from dirt.
Report Post »AmericansAgainstEntitlement
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 12:17pmLiberals attempt to blame sun tornadoes on capitalism in 3… 2… 1…
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 12:19pmThey already are.
Report Post »shogun459
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 12:53pm*crackle* “And now reporting live from the pages of the Subversive electrorag the Blaze we have tracked down the Ringleader of the Solar Conspiracy, AMERICANSAGAINSTENTITLEMENT.
Having now been convicted by your betters, Anything to Say?
No, good sentence is unknown, to take place unknown.”
“You have to suffer your sentence to find out what it is!”
Signed:
Report Post »Nancy P.
speaker
FourMoreTrillionFourMoreTrillion
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 12:08pmBeautiful.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:59amCool……………
Report Post »BehindBlueEyes
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:55amLooks like the sun is relieving some gas pains. Probably either helium or hydrogen.
Report Post »They tell me I was born there.
COFemale
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:52amIt all those lost souls, devils minions, trying to escape the “lake of fire”.
Report Post »AmazingGrace8
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:58amThe Great White Throne for the unbelievers. There is still time folks if you are still on this earth!
Report Post »Desperadeaux
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:43amIf this thing is as big as it appears and it generates a solar flare of comparable magnitude…well, post now while you still can. After the flare, all the stuff we’ve come to rely upon will simply disa_)(*&(*&*^&$#$%*&^)_(_**+*&^R%*(U&)_OLKBKITR*)P>> …………………………….
Report Post »VRW Conspirator
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 1:56pmLOL too fraking funny…..but true…if the Sun points these at us…goodnight sweet prince…global commerce is over…back to the early 1900′s for us…
Report Post »Sirfoldallot
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:40amHurry , get toetoe
Report Post »Thors Hammer
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:37amI would have liked to see the video, but didn’t feel like sitting through another commercial, especially when the subject of the advertising had nothing to do with the subject of the article. There is a good reason why more and more people are turning to commercial-free TV; get wise! I know business has a ‘right’ to promote its products and services, but I have the right to not watch it.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:43amYou missed out, the sun exploded and killed everyone on Earth.
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:50amI turn off the sound. I hate commercials. The only way you get my business is you have something I need and then I will contact you.
Report Post »AmazingGrace8
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:51amWhen the commercial was running, I got up from my chair & went over to my kitchen & poured me another cup of coffee & came back & sat down & the commercial was over and then watched “The Creators’” creation. I thank God that He allowed mankind the knowledge to see what is happening on the sun.
Report Post »Thank you Blaze. Pretty cool stuff!
STARSANDSTRIPES4EVR
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 1:24pmYup Firefox with Ad-block rocks. I hardly ever see any commercials.
Report Post »wdittgasn
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 2:13pmThor, why don’t you use google chrome or firefox, they have ad blocking features. I don’t have to watch commercials. and those Da#$$^ blinking ads when you are trying to read an article. you can block those too.
Report Post »