A very first “space hurricane” has been spotted over Earth, scientists said.
According to a study in the journal Nature Communications, the 600-mile-wide mass of plasma occurred hundreds of kilometers above the North Pole.
“Until now, it was uncertain that even space plasma hurricanes existed, so to prove this with such a striking observation is unbelievable,” said Mike Lockwood, a space scientist at the University of Reading and co-author of the study. , in a statement. .
The spectacle was captured by satellites in August 2014, but only recently discovered during research led by scientists at Shandong University in China.
The space hurricane “rained” electrons instead of water, had multiple spiral arms, and lasted eight hours before gradually bubbling, researchers said.
“Tropical storms are associated with enormous amounts of energy, and these space hurricanes must be caused by an unusually large and rapid transfer of solar wind energy and charged particles to Earth’s upper atmosphere,” Lockwood said.
The discovery of the “space hurricane” during a period of low geometric activity suggests they may be a common phenomenon, Lockwood said.
“Plasma and magnetic fields in planets’ atmospheres exist throughout the universe, so the findings suggest that space hurricanes should be a widespread phenomenon,” he said.