NASA releases footage of a 600,000-mile-long “canyon of fire” shooting out of the sun on Halloween
- A radiation explosion emanating from the Sun was captured by NASA’s probe
- It was twice as wide as the United States and could be seen from Mars
- READ MORE: NASA spacecraft ‘touches’ the sun for the first time
NASA has released footage showing a massive “chasm of fire” erupting from the sun on Halloween day, about twice the size of the United States.
It was a massive explosion of radiation 6,200 miles wide and 62,000 miles long – large enough for the US space agency’s Perseverance rover to see on Mars, 145.59 million miles away.
The plasma canyon was about twice the size of the entire United States and 50 times longer than the largest known crater in our solar system, the Valles Marineris on the Red Planet.
The video shows the filament forming more slowly at the sun’s southeastern edge and accelerating until it ruptures, releasing electrified gas toward the “strike zone.”
NASA has released footage showing a massive “chasm of fire” erupting from the sun on Halloween day, about twice the size of the United States
The clip was captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) on October 30 as it flew past Earth’s massive star.
The culprit is sunspot AR3477, which triggered an M-flare that can cause brief radio blackouts affecting Earth’s polar regions.
However, EarthSky reports that the sunspot also triggered eight C flares in the last 24 hours.
On November 1, AR3477 fired an M1.2 flare that caused radio blackouts over the South Indian Ocean.
And the flare released last month could hit Earth on November 4th.
NASA’s SDO spacecraft was recently named the fastest man-made object in history.
It was large enough for the American space agency’s Perseverance rover to see it on Mars, which is 145.59 million miles away
This was a massive radiation explosion 6,200 miles wide and 62,000 miles long
The vehicle reached a record speed of 394,736 miles per hour (mph) last month, twice as fast as lightning or 200 times as fast as a rifle bullet.
He achieved the success during his 17th solar orbit on September 27, when he broke his distance record by flying just 4.51 million from the sun’s surface.
SDO was launched on August 12, 2018 to study the Sun.
In 2021, the probe discovered the source in the Sun that produces solar energetic particles that threaten manned space flights, near-Earth satellites and aircraft.
A team of US researchers analyzed the composition of particles flying towards Earth in 2014 and found the same “fingerprint” of plasma deep in the Sun’s chromosphere – its second outermost layer.
The solar energetic particles are released from the sun at high speeds in its atmosphere during storms.
The team behind the new study said the new information could be used to better predict the timing of a major solar storm and act more quickly to reduce the risks.