Huge ‘coronal hole’ spotted on Sun

Earth Watch Report  -  Solar Activity

.....

Space Weather

by Dr. Tony Phillips.

SOUTHERN CORONAL HOLE:

Imagine what it would be like if, from time to time, a hole opened up in Earth's atmosphere and air went blowing out into space. On the sun, this happens all the time. The openings are called "coronal holes." NASA's Solar Dynamics Obervatory is monitoring one right now; it is the dark wedge-shaped region in this extreme ultraviolet image of the sun's southern hemisphere:

Coronal holes are places in the sun's atmosphere where the magnetic field bends back and allows gas to escape. From such openings, solar wind blows out into space. A stream of solar wind flowing from this particular coronal hole could reach Earth on May 11-12, sparking auroras when it arrives. On the other hand, the stream might sail south of our planet, delivering only a glancing blow. Stay tuned for updates.

.....

Huge square-shaped ‘coronal hole’ spotted on Sun (VIDEO)

Published time: May 13, 2014 12:00

NASA / SDO / GODDARD SPACE CENTER

A gigantic square hole has been video-captured on the Sun’s surface by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The particularly large monstrosity, known as a “coronal hole”, is an indicator of solar winds ejected out of the star at insane speeds.

Read More and Watch Video Here

.....

Related articles

• NASA Spots Square-Shaped "Hole" On The Sun
• NASA captures a mysterious hole in the sun
• Square 'hole' in the sun
• Huge square-shaped 'coronal hole' spotted on Sun (VIDEO)
• NASA Spots Square-Shaped 'Hole' in the Sun (Video)