--- title: "Amazing Video Shows Huge “Snake” Slithering Across the Sun’s Surface" description: "A giant snake quickly darting across the Sun's surface was spotted by the ESA's Solar Orbiter, and it might have been a precursor to an even bigger event." date: "2022-11-15" modified: "2022-11-15" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/video-snake-slithering-suns-surface" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "solar activity" - "the digest" - "the sun" --- # Amazing Video Shows Huge “Snake” Slithering Across the Sun’s Surface ![A giant snake quickly darting across the Sun's surface was spotted by the ESA's Solar Orbiter, and it might have been a precursor to an even bigger event.]() *\Image: ESA\* ## Snakes on a Star The Sun is no stranger to [foreboding spots]() and the [occasional flare up](). But the European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar Orbiter has spotted something way more bizarre — and cool — than usual: a giant "snake" slithering across the Sun's surface that might have been a precursor to an even more enormous event. The Solar Orbiter captured the "snake" on September 5 as it approached the Sun for closer images. Released by the ESA as a [video](), it's in fact a timelapse of multiple images recorded over three hours. That's three hours to traverse the surface of the Sun — meaning the "snake" traveled at an astounding 106 miles *per second*, according to researchers. On Earth, that's fast enough to blaze around its circumference in a few minutes. https://twitter.com/ESASolarOrbiter/status/1592142819635830785 ## Ssssssuperhot What's actually writhing across the solar surface is a tube of cooler atmospheric gasses shooting through the Sun's magnetic field. When we say "cooler," however, it's in relative terms — those gasses came in the form of plasma, a state of superheated matter. In the Sun's atmosphere, where it can get hotter than one million degrees Fahrenheit, the gasses lose their outer electrons and become electrically charged plasma, making them susceptible to magnetic fields. Here, the plasma snake darts along a magnetic filament that spans much of the Sun's surface. "You're getting plasma flowing from one side to the other but the magnetic field is really twisted," explained David Long, an astrophysicist at Mullard Space Science Laboratory who's investigating the snake, in a [statement](). "So you're getting this change in direction because we're looking down on a twisted structure." ## Solar Omen Curiously — and perhaps most importantly — the snake originated from an active region of the Sun that would soon erupt in a coronal mass ejection, spewing out billions of tons of plasma. According to the Solar Orbiter's data, the eruption was one of the most intense it's ever recorded. That leaves the possibility that the snake was a precursor to the enormous eruption, making the phenomena all the more intriguing. Long and his colleagues are investigating this possibility, and their findings may help shed some light on the volatile activity on the Sun's surface. **More on the Sun:** *[NASA Captures the Sun at Perfect Moment So That It Has Goofy Grin]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()