Just over six years ago, a hurricane-like storm began to erupt above us in space, and we knew nothing different. A few years ago, scientists suggested that they had obtained evidence of what they call the first “space hurricane,” a phenomenon built of plasma in the Earth’s upper atmosphere.
The news comes through a study published in the latest issue of the journal Communications about nature journal. There, the researchers say that the space hurricane erupted on August 20, 2014. Compared to a hurricane on Earth raining in water, the study says that this displaced cosmic storm has precipitated in the upper atmosphere of our planet.
The storm was located over the North Pole and was generated by “constant magnetic reconnection of the lobe with high latitude and current continuity” for almost eight hours in 2014. Due to its structure, it would not have been visible to the human eye. Better yet, the researchers involved in the study say that similar storms could theoretically happen on any planet that has a magnetic shield and an atmosphere full of plasma.
“Until now, it was uncertain that space plasma hurricanes existed, so it’s incredible to prove this with such a striking observation,” said Mike Lockwood of the University of Reading. Lockwood served as one of the study’s co-authors and added: “Tropical storms are associated with huge amounts of energy, and these space hurricanes must be created by the unusually large and rapid transfer of solar wind energy and charged particles into the Earth’s upper atmosphere. “
“Plasma and magnetic fields in the planet’s atmosphere exist throughout the universe, so the findings suggest that space hurricanes should be a widespread phenomenon,” Lockwood added.
The study certainly ensures that this “hurricane” is the first storm observed of this kind, it is quite possible that it happened elsewhere in the cosmos.