Magnetic Solar Super Tornadoes

More than 10, 000 magnetic super tornadoes each as large as a continent on Earth are now thought to storm across the sun s surface at any moment. According to a new study in Nature, each solar tornado lasts about 13 minutes, can spin more than 9, 000 miles per hour and has a temperature of roughly 1 million degrees Kelvin (the magnetic field lines carry along and accelerate hot plasma). The twisters may be a key step in shuttling energy from the sun s photosphere, or surface, up into its wispy, 2milliondegreeKelvin corona. Video: Copyright of Sven WedemeyerBöhm et al. , 2012 Distributed with permission by Sven WedemeyerBöhm Music: Something Elated by Broke For Free Source: Distributed under CC BY 3. 0 license