Solar Tornadoes: NASA Solar Dynamic Observatory Captures Footage of Tornadoes On the Sun

[image]By Rebecka Schumann

Tornadoes are well known to cause plenty of havoc on Earth, but who would've guessed that they were also hitting other areas of our solar system? A recent video released from NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory shows a speeded-up version of a 38-hour tornadic incident on the sun, an example of potentially dangerous "space weather."

Throughout the one-minute clip, multiple tornadoes can be seen making contact with the sun. According to Space.com’s YouTube page, the footage captured June 3-4 shows plasma moving across the sun’s surface, which is also commonly referred to as “sun tornadoes.”
At a Space Weather Enterprise Forum conference on June 4 at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Auditorium and Science Center in Silver Spring, Md., NASA chief Charles Bolden said space weather can be equally as devastating as the weather on Earth. "This conference shines a spotlight on another naturally occurring phenomenon that can be just as punishing as a tornado: space weather," Bolden told Space.com...Continue reading...