Solar Tornado Rips Through The Corona


You’ve seen the photos, now you can watch a video of the monster solar tornado that was spotted wreaking magnetic havoc in the sun’s superheated atmosphere last September.

During a Discovery News interview, co-discoverer Xing Li, solar physicist at Aberystwyth University, described this magnetic twister as a “beast” that sucks solar plasma high into the corona, accelerating it to 300,000 kilometers (190,000 miles) per hour. As seen here, the structure grows to a width of several Earths.

This video, created from observations captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, were lovingly assembled by solar astronomer and coronal physics expert Scott McIntosh of the High Altitude Observatory (HAO) in Boulder, Colo., using the online Helioviewer Project.

The Author

Darryn Van Hout

I took an interest in the Australian energy sector close to ten years ago and since then have monitored the trends, technologies and direction of the Australian Energy Market. I was drawn to the Australian solar market in 2008 and since then have worked heavily in the field. I am partnered with national and international solar energy companies, from manufacturers of solar panel and inverter technology, online software developers that introduce tools to quote, monitor and manage solar power systems and media organisations who like myself, closely monitor the solar and renewable energy sector.