Curls of the sun: what is this rare and spectacular phenomenon captured by a man from Nîmes ?

De spectaculaires boucles magnétiques captées lundi 24 juin. (montage avec la Terre) Midi Libre – Philippe Tosi

Philippe Tosi, presenter at the Nîmes planetarium, shared an impressive photo of the solar star.

This is a spectacular phenomenon that Philippe Tosi, presenter at the Nîmes planetarium, was able to record, this Monday, June 24, with magnificent solar magnetic loops, still visible this Tuesday and which mark the current intense activity of the sun.

An activity linked to the polarity shift of the sun

"On the surface of the sun, there are, as on the surface of the Earth, many magnetic fields. You have a positive point and a negative point", tries to simplify Philippe Tosi, by adding that "the magnetic lines will thus go from & quot;+" towards the "-", by making loops that we do not see, except from time to time, when the hydrogen follows these magnetic lines. And depending on surface accidents, which are linked to sunspots, we will have these magnetic loops which appear when the gas lights up.

Magnetic loops linked to the polarity shift of the Sun. Because this big ball of gas that is the sun, a star among the billions of stars in the galaxy, has its own cycle of activity: every 11 years, "the large magnetic pole of the sun, that is to say the North Pole, will transform into the South Pole, before returning to the North Pole after 22 years. This one-decadal shift will create a lot of activity, that is to say eruptions, magnetic loops, large spots and sometimes, as we saw a month ago, auroras boreals which can be seen as far as France, details Philippe Tosi. Currently, the Sun has almost finished tilting. But the maximum solar activity is planned for next year, in 2025. Three-four years of declining activity will follow. Before a relative calm for five-six years and a resumption of agitation to initiate a new shift.

A temperature of 4 500 °K

To be able to observe and capture these phenomena, a special telescope, 204 mm H-alpha F/11.25 + H-alpha filter, was used. Because looking at the star should not be taken lightly: "You have to be extremely careful when observing the sun, it’s very dangerous , there is a risk of losing sight by burning the retina, recalls the planetarium host, specifying that "the telescope used has special filters which will only allow the light emitted by these magnetic currents to be seen. There, we are in a zone called the chromosphere, between 4 and 5,000 km above the photosphere, which is the part of the sun that sends us light". These gigantic jets of molten hydrogen are thus at a temperature which is around … 4 500 °K !

In the photo, the animator at the planetarium has however added "the Earth to scale, in order to show the magnitude of the phenomena…" All for a spectacular result, which was elected "picture of the day" (photo of the day) by the American Facebook page Solar activity.

To follow Philippe Tosi's work, go to photoastro.com (same name on Facebook). On Instagram: astrotozzi