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NASA scientists have found tadpoles in the heart of the solar system, but these tadpoles are nothing like what we see on Earth. The tadpoles discovered by NASA are actually powerful currents of charged energy that escape violently from the outer layers of the Sun. Nicknamed "pseudo-shocks", these tadpole-shaped plasma jets sometimes escape the Sun's magnetic field. When they do, the plasma passes through the solar system to the Earth where it ravages satellite systems, telecommunications and power grids.
UFO hunters might be disappointed by the nature of the discovery, but NASA thinks plasma shards shed new light on how the sun works.
According to NASA, about 99% of the observable universe consists of plasma – an electrically conductive material constructed from charged particles.
NASA said in a statement: "For 150 years, scientists have been trying to understand why the sun's higher atmosphere, the crown, is more than 200 times hotter than the solar surface.
"This region, which stretches for millions of kilometers, becomes somewhat overheated and continually releases highly charged particles that pass through the solar system at supersonic speeds.
"When these particles meet the Earth, they can harm satellites and astronauts, disrupt telecommunications and even interfere with power grids during particularly intense events.
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"Understanding how hot the crown becomes can help us in the end understand the basic physics behind these disturbances."
The discovery of solar tadpoles was done using NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) tool.
The NASA solar observation satellite continuously monitors the Sun with an ultraviolet spectrometer, which allows NASA to observe the Sun's surface activity.
IRIS found that plasma tadpoles emerging from sunspots in the solar corona increased by 4,828 km (3,000 miles) in the upper crown.
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According to scientists who witnessed this incredible discovery, NASA said the plasma jets looked like tadpoles swimming in a stream.
Computer simulations have helped scientists determine whether plasma shocks could be responsible for heating the corona.
NASA researchers now believe that tadpoles are ejected by an "explosive entanglement of magnetic field lines" called magnetic reconnection.
This powerful process is usually observed around sunspots, which are magnetically active but colder parts of the sun's hot surface.
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NASA said: "The pseudo-shocks have only been observed on the edges of sunspots until now, but scientists expect them to also find themselves in from other highly magnetized regions. "
The space agency hopes that the solar probe Parker, launched to the Sun in August 2018, will provide more clues about this mysterious phenomenon.
The space probe will fly through the solar corona to study how energy escapes the star and hopefully complement the work done by IRIS.
Aleida Higginson, Associate Scientist Parker Solar Probe, said: "This new heating mechanism could be compared to the Parker Solar Probe surveys.
"Together, they could provide a complete picture of the coronal heating."
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