- #1
newjerseyrunner
- 1,533
- 637
This thread got me wondering something: https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/kic-8462852-in-the-news.837900/page-5 Long story short: someone suggested starspots as a reason for it's weird variance. It had some problems with it, but it did get me wondering.
I know sunspots are caused by magnetic loops pushing plasma around and when these loops collapse, large amounts of plasma gets shot of into space in a solar flare. If that material hits Earth, it can cause problems with our electronics and satellites so we watch for them.
Other than that, I don't know much about them, what happens to all of that mass? I know that they are traveling at immense speed, and extremely hot. They're also charged and all of the particles would be charged the same way (or else they wouldn't have been stuck in the magnetic loop in the first place) so they should push themselves apart.
Then what happens? Is most of the material at escape velocity? Does it end up in the galactic wind eventually? Also, more relevant to the other thread, if the sun threw a tantrum, how far away would that be detectable from? I would think a huge mass of hot plasma being thrown from a star should produce a noticeable cloud glowing in the IR.
I know sunspots are caused by magnetic loops pushing plasma around and when these loops collapse, large amounts of plasma gets shot of into space in a solar flare. If that material hits Earth, it can cause problems with our electronics and satellites so we watch for them.
Other than that, I don't know much about them, what happens to all of that mass? I know that they are traveling at immense speed, and extremely hot. They're also charged and all of the particles would be charged the same way (or else they wouldn't have been stuck in the magnetic loop in the first place) so they should push themselves apart.
Then what happens? Is most of the material at escape velocity? Does it end up in the galactic wind eventually? Also, more relevant to the other thread, if the sun threw a tantrum, how far away would that be detectable from? I would think a huge mass of hot plasma being thrown from a star should produce a noticeable cloud glowing in the IR.