NASA instruments captured the moment part of the sun appeared to break off from the giant star and get swept up in a polar vortex. But according to the scientist who drew attention to it, it’s not as dire as it sounds.
Tamitha Skov, a space weather physicist and research scientist at The Aerospace Corporation in Southern California, went viral for the news earlier this month when she shared imagery of the event.
“Talk about Polar Vortex!” she tweeted. “Material from a northern prominence just broke away from the main filament & is now circulating in a massive polar vortex around the north pole of our Star.”
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Basically, a big piece of plasma broke away off the sun’s surface. And the polar vortex it was swept up in isn’t the same as a polar vortex we might experience here on Earth.
Read more: CBS
