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Monster Solar Tornadoes Discovered

Posted by timothy on from the not-just-in-kansas-anymore dept.

astroengine writes "For the first time, huge solar tornadoes have been filmed by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) swirling deep inside the solar corona — the sun's superheated atmosphere. But if you're imagining the pedestrian tornadoes that we experience on Earth, think again. These solar monsters, measuring the width of several Earths and swirling at speeds of up to 300,000 kilometers (190,000 miles) per hour, aren't only fascinating structures; they may also trigger violent magnetic eruptions that can have drastic effects on our planet. 'These tornadoes may help to produce favorable conditions for CMEs to occur,' said Xing Li, solar physicist at Aberystwyth University and co-discoverer of the phenomenon."

7 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. Rotational Speed by Thelasko · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Angular velocity is a better way to measure the speed of a spinning object, because it factors out the object's diameter. Sure, 300Mm per hour sounds fast, but for an object that size, it's probably not a very impressive angular velocity.

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    One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
  2. Significant digits by crow · · Score: 4, Informative

    No, you are making the mistake. The conversion in units needs to take into account the precision of the original number to determine where it should be rounded. I doubt the determination of the top speed is within 4,000mph, so the 190K number is better than the 186K number. 200K might even be more fair, but it depends on the original data. Unfortunately, the units conversions are typically done by people who don't understand the concept of significant digits, let alone have any information about how precise the original number really is.

  3. I suppose this rules out .... by PPH · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... establishing mobile home parks on the sun.

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    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:I suppose this rules out .... by sconeu · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think you have cause and effect mixed up.

      I'd argue that Solar Tornadoes are convincing evidence that trailer parks already exist on the Sun.

      By the way.. CURSE YOU!!!! You beat me to this joke!!!

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      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  4. Should be obvious--scale up from Jupiter's storms by crow · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Storms and weather on the sun should be expected. We are quite familiar with storms on Jupiter, so just scale that up, and you should expect the same on the sun. We just can't observe them as easily.

    I would expect that they'll find that there are storms that persist for hundreds of years, if not longer.

  5. F5 is so 2010 by Dr.+Gamera · · Score: 3, Funny

    Might need a new Fujita scale... forget F5, say hello to F4000!

  6. Re:Should be obvious--scale up from Jupiter's stor by WalksOnDirt · · Score: 4, Informative

    "...the Sun's core is cooler than it's surface."

    Wow, no. From Wikipedia, the Sun's center is 15,700,000 K, the surface is 5,778 K, and the corona is 5,000,000 K.

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