Sun  ID: 11691

Tornadoes On The Sun?

Story by Chris Cesare | Visualizations by Tom Bridgman Released on December 23, 2014
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Scientists wonder whether a NASA spacecraft saw a solar tornado—or if it’s just an illusion.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) stares at our sun in high-definition from space. Under the spacecraft's constant gaze the sun's invisible magnetic field betrays its presence by bending charged gas, or plasma, into entrancing patterns. In February 2012, SDO captured curious images in which plasma near the sun’s surface appears to swirl like debris in a tornado. But was the plasma really rotating? Some scientists believe the spinning is an illusion caused by a 2-D projection of 3-D motion, while others think it is truly twisting. Newer observations may show more clearly that some of the material is moving toward Earth while some is moving away, pointing to genuine rotation. If that’s the case, bunched magnetic fields at the sun’s surface could be causing the elaborate plasma dance by becoming tangled themselves. Watch the video to see solar magnetism in action.
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This video, assembled from images taken by NASA’s SDO spacecraft, shows possible plasma tornadoes over a 30-hour period.
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The dark-colored plumes of plasma seen in SDO images extended more than 20,000 miles above the sun's surface.
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Scientists observed plasma within the plumes traveling at speeds of more than 11,000 mph.
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SDO spotted the tornado-like structures over the upper-left limb of the sun.
 

Related Story

Solar Tornados as Seen by SDO (February 7, 2012)

Story Credits

Lead Visualizer/Animator:
Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)

Producers:
Michael Starobin (HTSI)
Scott Wiessinger (USRA)

Lead Scientists:
Yang Su (University of Graz)
Todd Hoeksema (Stanford)

Lead Writer:
Chris Cesare (USRA)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11691

Keywords:
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Sun