Nearly a decade ago, an explosion on the sun "contained components of three different types of solar eruptions".
Studying the eruption could unlock mysteries on how they occur.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Studying the eruption could unlock mysteries on how they occur.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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TechTranscript
00:00An unusual eruption on the sun may offer clues to understanding our star's mysterious explosions.
00:09Solar eruptions are massive releases of material off the surface of the sun.
00:16This material can travel across the solar system, to Earth and Mars.
00:26The radiation and the material from the sun can interact with the planet's magnetic fields,
00:31affecting astronauts and technology.
00:36Eruptions on the sun usually come in one of three forms.
00:41Coronal mass ejections, jets, and partial eruptions.
00:47The new research studied an event named the Rosetta Stone of solar eruptions.
00:53Just as the Rosetta Stone was the key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphics,
00:57studying this eruption could be the key to understanding all types of solar eruptions.
01:04In the Rosetta Stone eruption, all three types of eruptions happened in the same event.
01:10They usually occur separately.
01:14The main eruption was too big to be a jet, but too narrow to be a coronal mass ejection.
01:20A second, cooler layer of material on the surface of the sun also started to erupt about a half an hour later.
01:27But it fell back down as a partial solar eruption.
01:33This Rosetta Stone of solar eruptions will also give clues to help scientists predict large eruptions in the future.
01:42The better our predictions are, the more time we have to prepare for material from the sun to interact with Earth's magnetic field.
01:52Predicting large solar eruptions can help better protect our astronauts and technology, near Earth and beyond.