Scientists are baffled as a portion of the Sun broke off its surface and created a tornado-like swirl around its northern pole, according to a report in the New York Post.
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° here cannot be overstated! pic.twitter.com/1SKhunaXvP
— Dr. Tamitha Skov (@TamithaSkov) February 2, 2023
The remarkable phenomenon was captured on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and tweeted by Dr. Tamitha Skov, a space weather forecaster.
“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° here cannot be overstated!” Dr Skov said in a tweet last week.
A prominence is a large, bright feature that extends outward from the sun’s surface. Other filament tear-aways have been observed in the past but none have been like this one, say experts.
Unusual activity typically occurs at the Sun’s 55 degree latitudes once every 11-year solar cycle, according to experts, but this incident is stumping researchers.
