A solar tsunami can be seen as a dark wave spreading across the surface of the Sun (small sphere on left). The greyed-out band has been enhanced for contrast. The green shows the solar flare or CME that has caused the tsunami.
Credit: NASA
SYDNEY: Observations from NASA's STEREO space probes have confirmed that vast 'solar tsunamis', taller than the Earth itself, ripple across the Sun for millions of kilometres.
The technical name is 'fast-mode magneto -hydrodynamical wave (MHD)'. The one the STEREO probes recorded reared up to 100,000 km in height, and raced outward at 900 km/h packing as much energy as 2,400 megatons of TNT.
The findings are reported in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. See a video here of a solar tsunami as seen from different angles by the STEREO spacecraft.
A solar tsunami can be seen as a dark wave spreading across the surface of the Sun (small sphere on left). The greyed-out band has been enhanced for contrast. The green shows the solar flare or CME that has caused the tsunami.
Credit: NASA
SYDNEY: Observations from NASA's STEREO space probes have confirmed that vast 'solar tsunamis', taller than the Earth itself, ripple across the Sun for millions of kilometres.
The technical name is 'fast-mode magneto -hydrodynamical wave (MHD)'. The one the STEREO probes recorded reared up to 100,000 km in height, and raced outward at 900 km/h packing as much energy as 2,400 megatons of TNT.
The findings are reported in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. See a video here of a solar tsunami as seen from different angles by the STEREO spacecraft.