Space Telescope Captures Stunning Image of a Mysterious Bird, Larger Than Earth Flying Near the Sun

Space is full of wonders, but every now and then, something truly extraordinary grips the scientific world and the public imagination. Our Sun has long been a source of spectacular phenomena, from dazzling auroras to powerful solar flares. But a recent observation has left the scientists baffled. It wasn’t just another burst of plasma or a filament eruption, it looked like something alive, Something shaped like a bird. On a seemingly ordinary day at the Solar Astronomy Laboratory of the Space Research Institute (IKI) at the Russian Academy of Sciences, experts monitoring the LASCO C2 channel aboard NASA’s SOHO satellite captured an image that stunned everyone, as per Daily Galaxy.

The telescope recorded a huge, glowing object high above the Sun. At first glance, it resembled a bird mid-flight, complete with feisty wings and a brilliant trail, something eerily majestic. The wingspan? An estimated 150,000 kilometers, more than ten times the diameter of Earth. It is roughly located 2 million kilometers above the Sun’s surface. The mysterious image, which appeared only once at exactly 10:00 UTC, vanished just as quickly. Krista Hammond, space weather expert, remarked, “Because of where this left the Sun, the vast majority of the material will miss Earth…This means that even if we do receive a glancing blow from the eruption, it will be weak, a minor geomagnetic storm at most, which will not have any significant impacts,” as per the Daily Mail.

Although the LASCO system often detects anomalies due to cosmic rays, light reflections, or sensor noise of this image baffled scientists. Juha-Pekka Luntama, head of the space weather office at ESA, remarked, “The forecast for this CME was that it might give a glancing blow today, but most likely it would pass above and ahead of the Earth. So, the expected impact would be small or nothing at all.” Speculation swirled rapidly. The Solar Astronomy Laboratory refused to fan the flames of speculation, calling it instead a beautiful, mysterious image, according to Daily Galaxy.

Meanwhile, just days later, Earth was almost brushed by another stunning solar event. On Tuesday, solar satellites recorded a huge filament eruption, a huge surge of plasma and magnetic fields peeling away from the Sun’s northern hemisphere. In a stunning video released by the European Space Agency (ESA), the eruption unraveled into a sweeping structure resembling huge bird wings, drawing immediate comparisons to the earlier ‘bird’ image. Professor Sean Elvidge of the University of Birmingham explained, “Filament eruptions, also known as Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), occur due to instabilities in the Sun’s magnetic field…If the CME had directly impacted Earth, it could have triggered stronger geomagnetic storms, possibly resulting in disruptions to power grids, interference with GPS systems, and increased satellite drag, which can lead to a greater risk of satellite collisions,” as per Daily Mail.

Though this eruption narrowly missed Earth, scientists say it delivered a minor glancing blow, sparking slight geomagnetic disturbances, as per the Daily Mail. The Met Office confirmed a small chance of aurora sightings in northern Scotland.