A Piece of the Sun Broke off in an Event That Surprised Scientists

Photo byNASAonUnsplash

In an event that astonished scientists, a piece of the sun’s northern pole broke off, which was captured on video. The shocking incident, being a never-before-seen event, shows a vast filament of plasma blasting out from the sun and then circulating in a massive polar vortex. Although scientists suspect the reversal of the sun’s magnetic field that occurs once every solar cycle as the cause, they are not sure and cannot say for certain what caused the event or its possible ramifications.

According to scientists, solar prominence or filaments are described as charged particle clouds that, despite floating above the sun, are tied to it by magnetic forces. As a result, they appear as extended strands that bust out of the sun’s surface. 

Scientists believe the sun’s core is 15 million degrees Celsius of plasma which makes up around 90% of the sun. In other words, plasma is a state of matter similar to gas but has most of its particles ionized. Furthermore, thousands of protons in the sun’s core collide with protons every second to produce helium nuclei in a nuclear fusion reaction that emits energy.

Although scientists have been making headway in understanding our sun, the sun is an electrically charged gigantic ball of moving hot gas that generates a powerful magnetic field. However, even though life as we know it depends on the sun, scientists also believe that the sun is already cooling and is halfway through its lifetime before it dies and becomes a white dwarf. Nevertheless, that is a problem mankind wouldn’t have to worry about for another five billion years.

As fascinating as the events happening with our sun or in the solar system in general are, it’s as stirring as it’s interesting to think about the insignificance of man’s achievements in terms of the little scientific knowledge we possess when it comes to the heavenly bodies above us and the spectacular events taking place.

However, though the sun is responsible for many things that, include solar flares that cause radio blackouts and the temporary heat and expansion of earth’s outer atmosphere, life as we know it depends on that one giant hot ball of gas that we call the sun.