Solar "Tadpoles" Finally Explained

Abhishek writes " Solar "tadpoles" - dark shadows that seem to wiggle down toward the surface of the sun during flares - may have been explained by University of Warwick astrophysicists. Dr Valery Nakariakov and Dr Erwin Verwichte analysed observations obtained with NASA's "Transition Region And Coronal Explorer" (TRACE) space mission. They theorize that the wiggles of the tadpoles' tails are earth-sized waves similar to the waves in a flag blown by the wind. They think that the waves are produced by a phenomenon known as "negative energy waves"; waves pull energy from the medium they propagate through. The "tadpoles" are optical illusions, rather than real physical structures; the apparently descending tadpole head marks the falling start point of the matter's upward acceleration."

Comments

Does this mean

[Scrameustache]

That we don't have to worry about being eaten alive by the Giant Solar Frogs anymore?

SIgh... I hate that feeling when I read an article that solves a mystery I never even heard of. There's the sense of loss: All the wild speculations that never were. The info is still interresting, but I feel like I just walked in when someone was telling the punch line of a joke.

So many overlords, so little time

[FirienFirien]

I for one welcome our illusionary earthsized tadpole overlords.

What an awful description!

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

Of course these things aren't optical illusions! Optical illusions are artifacts of the human vision system and when you attempt to explain an optical illusion you give a description in terms of sensory organs (eg. this bit appears to wiggle because because the visual systems's motion sensors are still active from previous stimulation yada, yada, yada...). This phenomenon has (tentatively) been explained in terms of physical phenomena taking place at the Sun. So clearly it isn't an optical illusion.

(I guess a case could be made that one aspect of these phenomena is illusory. For example we often imagine that the horizontal motion of the crest of a wave represents a horizontal motion of fluid even if the only motion is vertical. But I'd like to see someone tell the family of a victim of the recent tsunami that the wave was an optical illusion! A wave is a real physical phenomenon even if our vision perceives one aspect of that wave incorrectly.)

Re:What an awful description!

[Anonymous Coward]

Not all optical illusions are "artifacts of the human vision system". Heat wave mirages seem to be water, but are just a refraction of the sky. Looks like water, but it's not. The explanation of this does not rely solely on descriptions of sensory organs.