NEW YORK: Scientists around the world are puzzled by a phenomenon that has never been seen before as a large part of the Sun has detached from its surface. The piece is now said to be circulating in a polar vortex around the north pole of the Sun.

Data on the solar phenomenon came from NASA's infrared-based James Webb Telescope, which was launched to collect critical scientific records of the universe's origins. Astronaut Dr Tamitha Skov has shared the video footage on Twitter.

"Talk about the Polar Vortex! Material from a northern prominence just broke away from the main filament & is now circulating in a massive polar vortex around the north pole of our Star. Implications for understanding the Sun's atmospheric dynamics above 55° here cannot be overstated!" she said.

Talk about Polar Vortex! Material from a northern prominence just broke away from the main filament & is now circulating in a massive polar vortex around the north pole of our Star. Implications for understanding the Sun's atmospheric dynamics above 55° here cannot be overstated! pic.twitter.com/1SKhunaXvP

— Dr. Tamitha Skov (@TamithaSkov) February 2, 2023

"More observations of the #SolarPolarVortex reveal it took roughly 8 hours for material to circumnavigate the pole at approximately 60 degree latitude. This means an upper bound in the estimation of horizontal wind speed in this event is 96 kilometers per second or 60 miles a second!" Dr Skov said in another tweet.

Communication systems and satellite systems on Earth are often disrupted by these types of solar vortexes. So there remains the concern that the new phenomenon will affect the Earth in some way. There have been several such instances in the past but this one has mystified the scientific community.