NASA scientists have found tadpoles at the burning heart of the solar system but these tadpoles are unlike anything seen on Earth. The tadpoles discovered by NASA are actually powerful streams of charged energy violently erupted from the outer layers of the Sun. Offaly dubbed “pseudo-shocks”, these tadpole-shaped jets of plasma occasionally escape the Sun’s magnetic field. When they do, the plasma races through the solar system towards the Earth where it wreaks havoc on satellite systems, telecommunications and power grids.
UFO-hunters might be disappointed by the nature of the discovery but NASA believes the plasma bursts shed new light on how the Sun works.
According to NASA, an estimated 99 percent of the observable universe is accounted for by plasma – an electrically conductive material built from charged particles.
NASA said in a statement: “For 150 years scientists have been trying to figure out why the wispy upper atmosphere of the Sun – the corona – is over 200 times hotter than the solar surface.
“This region, which extends millions of miles, somehow becomes superheated and continually releases highly charged particles, which race across the solar system at supersonic speeds.
“When those particles encounter Earth, they have the potential to harm satellites and astronauts, disrupt telecommunications, and even interfere with power grids during particularly strong events.
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“Understanding how the corona gets so hot can ultimately help us understand the fundamental physics behind what drives these disruptions.”
The new solar tadpole discovery was made thanks to NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) tool.
The NASA solar observation satellite continuously scans the Sun with an ultraviolet spectrometer, providing NASA with views of the Sun’s surface activity.
IRIS found the plasma tadpoles emerging from sunspots in the Sun’s corona were rising up to 3,000 miles (4,828 km) into the upper corona.
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To the scientists who saw the incredible discovery, NASA said the plasma jets looked like tadpoles swimming up a stream.
Computer simulations have helped scientists determine the plasma shocks could be responsible for heating the corona.
NASA’s researchers now believe the tadpoles are ejected by an “explosive tangling of magnetic field lines” known as magnetic reconnection.
The powerful process is typically observed around solar sunspots, which are magnetically active but cooler parts of the Sun’s scorching surface.
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NASA said: “The pseudo-shocks have only been observed around the rims of sunspots so far, but scientists expect they’ll be found in other highly magnetised regions as well.”
The space agency hopes the Solar Parker Probe, which launched towards the Sun in August 2018, can provide more clues about the mysterious phenomenon.
The space probe will fly through the Sun’s corona to study how energy escapes the star and will hopefully compliment the work done by IRIS.
Aleida Higginson, the deputy project scientist for Parker Solar Probe, said: “This new heating mechanism could be compared to the investigations that Parker Solar Probe will be doing.
“Together they could provide a comprehensive picture of coronal heating.”