The first-ever ‘space hurricane’ has been spotted above Earth
You are… like a space hurricane…
Hurricanes form when warm, wet air over oceans rise, creating a low-pressure system over thewater. Air rushes in to fill the low-pressure region, resulting in high winds and clouds, which often results in heavy rains.
“A hurricane is clearly associated with strong energy and mass transportation, so a hurricane in Earth’s upper atmosphere must be violent and efficiently transfer solar wind/magnetosphere energy and momentum into the Earth’s ionosphere,” researchers describe in an article published inNature Communications.
Together with their familiar cousins here at home, hurricanes have been seen on bodies in our own solar system.
“[A]stronomers have spotted hurricanes on Mars, and Saturn, and Jupiter, which are similar to terrestrial hurricanes in the low atmosphere. There are also solar gases swirling in monstrous formations deep within the sun’s atmosphere, called solar tornadoes with widths of several Earth radii,”Shandong Universityreports.
Astronomers know of more than 4,400 exoplanets orbiting stars other than the Sun. Many of these, like planets in our own solar system, are expected to possess magnetic fields and plasma in their atmospheres, suggesting space hurricanes could be common around the Cosmos. The fact that this high-altitude tempest formed when geomagnetic activity was low increases the odds that this phenomenon would form on otherexoplanets.
We are just now on the technological cusp of being able to explore the atmospheres of other worlds. This space hurricane here on Earth could provide us a sneak preview of what life is like ondistant planets.
Story byThe Cosmic Companion
Exploring the wonders of the Cosmos, one mystery at a time.Exploring the wonders of the Cosmos, one mystery at a time.
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