Gigantic Plasma Tsunami on the Sun

I just found this and maybe it's old news to you guys -- but I wasn't aware that we recently (last month) had a solar tsunami. I didn't know they existed, actually.



Definitely look at the pictures.
[link to www.nso.edu]


Tsunamis this large don't happen on Earth.

During December, a large solar flare from an Earth-sized sunspot produced a tsunami-type shock wave that was spectacular even for the Sun.

Pictured here [link to antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov] the tsunami wave was captured moving out from active region AR 10930 by the Optical Solar Patrol Network (OSPAN) telescope in New Mexico, USA.

The resulting shock wave, known technically as a Moreton wave, compressed and heated up gasses including hydrogen in the photosphere of the Sun, causing a momentarily brighter glow.

The rampaging tsunami took out some active filaments on the Sun, although many re-established themselves later.

The solar tsunami spread at nearly one million kilometers per hour, and circled the entire Sun in a matter of minutes.

[link to antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov]



A composite of 9 still frames from OSPAN in H-alpha (656.3 nm) shows a tsunami-like wave spreading from a white-light flare erupting from AR 10930.

Click here: [link to www.nso.edu] for a 2,400x2,400-pixel version of this image, or here
[link to www.nso.edu] for a 512x512-pixel, 1.2MB MPG, or here
[link to www.nso.edu] for a 9-frame movie focusing on the wave itself.


Telescope spots solar tsunami

Dec. 7, 2006: The prototype of a new solar patrol telescope in New Mexico recorded a tsunami-like shock wave rolling across the visible face of the Sun following a major flare on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006, at 18:28 Universal Time.

The shock wave, known as a Moreton wave, also destroyed or compressed two filaments of cool gas at opposite sides of the solar hemisphere.

"These large scale 'blast' waves occur infrequently, but are very powerful. They quickly propagate in a matter of minutes covering the whole Sun, sweeping away filamentary material," said Dr. K. S. Balasubramaniam, of the National Solar Observatory (NSO) in Sunspot, NM, who is studying these and other phenomena.

"It is unusual to see such powerful waves encompassing the whole sun from ground based observatories. Its significance comes from the fact that these waves are occurring near solar minimum, when intense activity is yet to pick up."

At 18:28 UT the region brightened and a large flare blew off. A shock wave propagated like the splash from a rock thrown into a pond. This was seen as a brightening from compressed and heated hydrogen gas.

The flare also had a small white light component at one corner of the sunspot that brightened to about 100 times the average brightness of a Sun for a few minutes.

more photos and info here:
[link to www.nso.edu]