Vast solar tornadoes, which can wreak havoc upon electric systems, satellites, and computers, have been discovered by the European Space Agency's SOHO spacecraft.
SOHO has detected a dozen tornadoes, some nearly as wide as the Earth and gusting up to 300,000 mph, whipping across the solar surface. Most of them are near the sun's north and south poles, the space agency said in a statement.
The phenomenon may help scientists better understand the impact of solar wind, which buffets Earth's environment, causing auroras and magnetic storms and endangering satellites and power supplies.
"We see the hot gas in the tornadoes spiraling away from the sun and gathering speed. These spectacular events in the sun's atmosphere must have widespread effects," said British scientist David Pike of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, quoted in today's statement.
SOHO, which carries 12 sets of solar observation instruments provided by European and American researchers, was launched on 2 December 1995 aboard a NASA rocket. It began its scientific operations in April 1996, observing the sun from a distance of 900,000 miles. The European Space Agency and NASA recently decided to extend its mission to 2003, enabling SOHO to observe dark sunspots on the sun's surface, which are expected to peak around 2000.
Solar storms during the last sunspot peak, between 1989 and 1991, caused power failures in Canada and Sweden, made some computers crash, and destroyed or damaged several satellites, the European Space Agency said.
