A Space Hurricane Has Been Spotted Over North Pole For First Time Ever
Right, so I need you to sit down for this one because what Im about to tell you sounds absolutely mental but is apparently completely real science. Researchers have confirmed the existence of what theyre calling a “space hurricane” – a massive swirling storm of plasma in Earths upper atmosphere that rained electrons instead of water.
The storm was recorded back in August 2014 by satellites but it took years of analysis before researchers at Shandong University could confirm what they were looking at. Their findings were published in Nature Communications and detail the first-ever observation of a space hurricane.
Picture a hurricane with an eye in the center and spiral arms. Now imagine instead of clouds and wind its made of plasma and magnetic fields. The thing was over 1,000 kilometers wide and rotated counterclockwise for about eight hours.
The really interesting bit is that this happened during a period of very low geomagnetic activity. Usually you need significant solar activity to get dramatic space weather effects.
The impact of space weather on Earth-based technology is something scientists are increasingly concerned about. These space hurricanes could potentially disrupt GPS signals and affect satellites.
The researchers think space hurricanes are probably pretty common – they just hadnt been definitively identified before. Science is weird, man. Space is weirder.
