The intensifying solar cycle we are currently experiencing is creating tornadoes on the Sun's surface, as well as the most powerful flares ever seen. Now, researchers have found a new example of another powerful solar phenomenon.
"We just detected the first solar earthquake in Solar Cycle 25. It rippled away from a class X1.5 solar flare on May 10, 2022," said Alexander Kosovichev of The New Jersey Institute of Technology, quoted from Spaceweather.com.
As the name suggests, a solar earthquake is an episode of seismic activity on the Sun that is similar to an earthquake on our planet but much stronger. Studying solar earthquakes can help scientists understand the relationship between sunspots and how they produce powerful solar flares.
First discovered in 1996, solar quakes accompany several solar flares and typically contain about 40,000 times the amount of energy released in the historic 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
Just like an earthquake, its vibrations ripple through the interior of the Sun, but with a mysterious difference. The compression waves accelerate to 250,000 miles per hour as they travel through the Sun before suddenly disappearing.
Kosovichev points to the dopplergram below taken from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory where the ripples from Tuesday's earthquake were barely visible.
"The ripples are almost engulfed in turbulence. This is why it took us so long to find them," he explained.
The sun goes through a roughly 11-year cycle in which sunspot and flare activity peaks before falling again. We are currently in an increasingly intensive part of the cycle, which means we could expect more solar earthquakes in the next few years.