Holy crap, that’s awesome. Behold the power of a gigantic ball of plasma chewing away at its available fuel. No wonder ancient civilizations worshipped the sun — you couldn’t hunt or perform industry without its presence, it provides (almost) all life on Earth with the necessary energy to fuel it either directly or indirectly, and it does crazy-ass shit like this.
No, we’re not in any danger. I know my core readership wouldn’t jump to that conclusion, but the Chicken Littles of the intertubes make a habit of freaking out at this sort of thing.
Hat tip to the awesome Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy for this video.
2 comments
Rich Wilson
June 9, 2011 at 3:36 pm CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Can I just quote Dawkins quoting New Scientist? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_2xGIwQfik
Troythulu
June 12, 2011 at 3:07 am CDT (UTC -5) Link to this comment
That. Is. Awesome. It’s amazing to see the temper-tantrums that our average but hardly mild-mannered home star engages in.