terror station , everyone . A huge kettle of fish hasopened up on the Sun , and we ’re all going to gather our fiery final stage very soon .
Okay , that last part is n’t strictly dead on target . But there is a large trap in the Sun ’s upper ambiance mighty now , and it ’s send a stream of particles our mode . Which is at the same time kinda cool and kinda terrifying .
This special gob was tell apart back on November 7 to 9 by NASA ’s Solar Dynamics Observatory ( SDO ) . In the ikon above , you could see it as the gravid dark region , which is also extending down the side .
Although it might wait scary , holes like this are n’t too rare . It ’s called a coronal hole , and it ’s fundamentally a magnetically open area of the Sun where high - speed solar wind can race out into space .
The Sun ’s magnetised line of business line can cause dramatic result like sunspots and solar flare . For a coronal maw , however , the reason it face drear is because this region is cooler and less dense than other parts of the Sun . So it appear less undimmed in this extreme ultraviolet view from the SDO .
" This open , magnetic field line construction countenance the solar wind instrument to escape more readily into space , ensue in streams of comparatively fast solar wind , " notes theSpace Weather Prediction Center .
This particular hole was consort with some powerful auroraeearlier this month , which were seen as far south as Nebraska in the US . The extra particles from the Sun flow rate into the pole of our planet , exciting particles and have the shiny colors associated with aurorae .
The Sun is now heading towards a period of solar lower limit , when the number of macula and solar flares should diminish . Coronal hollow , however , should become more prevailing .
" During times of low solar bodily function , coronal hole cover the northward and south polar cap of the Sun , " notes theEncyclopedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics .
" One of the cause that coronal holes are important to examine is that they are call up to be the primary situation of acceleration for the high - speed solar wind . "
So , there ’s a hole on the Sun , but there ’s nothing to care about . Yet …
