Largest tornado ever recorded has erupted on the surface of the sun

You might not have noticed, but the sun has been having a pretty wild time of it recently.

It was recently revealed that a section of the star had left the surface and begun circulating around the top as if it were a huge polar vortex, without anyone really knowing why.

Not only that, but scientists also recently stated that it’s giving off a signal which resembles a ‘heartbeat’.

The excitement isn’t over yet, either. It’s now been revealed that the largest tornado ever detected has erupted on the surface of the star.

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It’s so huge, in fact, that it measures 14 times the size of Earth, which in itself is pretty mind boggling.

It was spotted on March 17 and is composed of giant towers of plasma, itself a gas made up of hydrogen and helium.

The event was spotted by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the findings were shared on Twitter by astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy.

He explained: "There's a ‘tornado’ on the surface of the sun right now. Will be spending the rest of the day watching it to see what happens."

Assuring his followers, he added: "In case it needs to be said: No, this isn't going to wipe out life on Earth. This is a solar prominence, and is a regular occurrence on the sun. If I saw something that was going to kill us all I'd let you know (after I was done soiling myself)."

NASA describes solar prominences as a 'large, bright feature extending outward from the Sun's surface'.

It comes after a ‘heartbeat’ was detected on the sun. A signal which repeats every 10 to 20 seconds was recently detected by a team of scientists at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT).

It’s been pinpointed to a solar flare located 3,106 miles above the surface of the sun, and the new findings could lead to a deeper understanding of solar storms.

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