Polar Vortex on Sun

Polar Vortex on Sun

News: Recently, several reports suggested that something broke off the Sun. Others blatantly claimed that a part of the Sun has broken off and that people should be worried. However, these reports are false and do not make any sense. Nothing has broken off the surface of the Sun.

What exactly happened?
 What happened was a polar vortex as material broke from a filament on the northern limb of the Sun and lingered overhead for hours.
 As tweeted by Space Weather Physicist, “Talk about Polar Vortex! 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.
 What actually happened was a bend of a long filament of plasma, which is a highly electrically charged gas, shot out of the surface. This event created a massive loop-like feature, which scientists call prominence. These likely have an origin in the magnetic field of the Sun's corona.
 What has surprised astronomers is the fact that the prominence suddenly broke off and then remained airborne for hours over the poles. This made the astronomers refer them as polar vortex, which is a phenomenon seen on Earth when a large area of low pressure and cold air surrounds both of the Earth’s poles.
 This hot plasma was seen swirling around possibly due to the combined effect of gravity, convection and Coriolis forces. We often see polar vortices in other planets including Earth, where it can influence the weather significantly. Rarely do we see it in such detail on the Sun.

Does it possess any threat? What is India’s mission to Sun?
 No, at the moment, it does not pose any threat to Earth.
 India is set to launch its solar mission Aditya L-1 this year to better forecast eruptions from the Sun. The Aditya L-1 will be equipped with instruments that will target the Sun's corona and unravel the science powering these massive eruptions happening on our star.
Key Terms that you must remember – Prominence, Sun’s magnetic field, Coriolis Force and few facts about Aditya L-1 mission.