Just before the massive eruption. (Image: NASA)
A clearly visible circular vortex around the north pole of the sun causes researchers to get excited. It appears to be a giant chunk of solar plasma that has detached from the surface.
Images from the US space agency NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory have revealed a strange circular vortex orbiting the sun’s north pole. It is now clear that it is a giant filament of solar plasma that has erupted from the Sun’s surface.
The question that the researchers are now asking themselves, but cannot answer, is why. That remains completely unclear for the time being.
“We’re talking about a polar vortex! Material from a northern prominence has just broken away from the main filament and is now circulating in a massive polar vortex around our star’s north pole,” tweeted space meteorologist Tamitha Skov. She shared a video sequence and emphasized: “The importance of understanding the atmospheric dynamics of the sun above 55 degrees cannot be overestimated!”
Space.com asked solar physicist Scott McIntosh and learned that breaking off such a huge chunk of solar plasma was unprecedented. Ultimately, however, it fits with his observation that something strange happens in the sun’s 55-degree latitude every 11-year solar cycle.
Solar plasma always plays a role in this. However, the reason for this is unknown. Scientists are quite certain that it must have something to do with the reversal of the Sun’s magnetic field, which takes place once every solar cycle. The catch is that they don’t even know why this reversal is happening.
The phenomenon itself also confuses the researchers. Why does the solar plasma move toward the poles only once, then disappear and magically reappear three or four years later in the exact same region, McIntosh wonders.
What the researchers think they know for sure is that the Sun’s polar regions play a key role in creating the star’s magnetic field. This magnetic field, in turn, determines our star’s eleven-year activity cycle.
McIntosh is convinced that in order to get behind the secret of this correlation, the researchers would have to be able to observe the affected solar region more closely. It is a problem that the sun can only be observed from the so-called ecliptic plane, i.e. the plane in which the planets orbit.
The physicist believes that the soon-to-be launched “Mission Solar Orbiter” by the European Space Agency (ESA) will not change this fundamental deficiency. Because the orbiter, which is to take pictures of the sun from the orbit of Mercury, can tilt its orbit by up to 33 degrees. However, this may not be enough to observe the solar north pole well enough.