NOAA satellite spots huge rush of mass shooting out from Sun's North Pole

On 15 November 2023, NOAA's Goes-16 satellite spotted a huge rush of mass shooting out from near the north pole of the Sun. The Solar Ultraviolet Imager mounted on NOAA's Goes-16 satellite captured the event.

The rush was triggered by Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) - a large eruption of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun's corona - the ESA/NASA SOHO satellite revealed later. The CME was so huge that it warped our parent star's magnetic field, disrupting the delicate balance of forces all around it and causing the large outwards rush of mass.

Following the ejection, the energy was released at extremely high speeds, causing temperature variations along the Sun's magnetic field lines, the ESA Operations team said in a series of tweets.

Fortunately, this event wasn't directed at Earth. If it had been, it could have rattled the magnetosphere of our planet and disrupted communication and navigation services on the ground.

In extreme cases, it could even damage power lines on Earth and pose a health risk to astronauts in space.ESA is preparing the Vigil mission to provide advanced warning of this kind of potentially hazardous #SpaceWeather event: https://t.co/kAKzBz4cvv#ESAVigil pic.twitter.com/Hvl0rH89kK

— ESA Operations (@esaoperations) November 16, 2023

The European Space Agency's upcoming Vigil mission will keep a constant eye on our active and unpredictable Sun. Planned to launch in the mid-2020s, Vigil will be the first of its kind mission to stream a constant feed of near real-time data on potentially hazardous solar activity or space weather, before it rolls into view from Earth.

Vigil will provide advance warning of oncoming solar storms and therefore more time to protect current and future spacecraft in orbit, critical infrastructure on the ground and space as well as space explorers from violent outbursts.