Just over six years ago, a hurricane-like storm began to erupt above us in space and we knew no different. Now years later, scientists suggest they have obtained evidence of what they call the first “space hurricane,” a phenomenon built with plasma in the Earth’s upper atmosphere.
The news comes through a study published in the latest issue of the journal Communications on Nature magazine. There, researchers say the space hurricane devastated August 20, 2014. Compared to an Earth hurricane raining water, the study says that this displaced cosmic storm precipitated the upper atmosphere of our planet.
The storm was located on the North Pole and was generated by a “constant magnetic reconnection of the high-latitude lobe and current continuity” for nearly eight hours in 2014. Due to its composition, it would not have been visible to the eye. human. Better yet, the researchers involved in the study say that, in theory, similar storms could happen to any planet that has a magnetic shield and a plasma-filled atmosphere.
“Until now, it was uncertain that even space plasma hurricanes existed, so proving it with such a shocking observation is incredible,” Mike Lockwood of the University of Reading said in a statement. Lockwood was one of the co-authors of the study and added: “Tropical storms are associated with large amounts of energy, and these space hurricanes must be created by an unusually large and rapid transfer of solar wind energy and of charged particles in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. “
“Plasma and magnetic fields in the planets’ atmosphere exist throughout the universe, so the findings suggest that space hurricanes should be a widespread phenomenon,” Lockwood added.
The study says that this particular “hurricane” is the first storm of its kind observed, it is quite possible that it has happened elsewhere in the cosmos.