Worrying Hole In The Sun Is The Biggest Spotted By Nasa In Over A Year
Worrying Hole In The Sun Is The Biggest Spotted By Nasa In Over A Year
Worrying Hole In The Sun Is The Biggest Spotted By Nasa In Over A Year
A giant hole has been discovered in the Sun - and it's heading our way.
The giant gaping coronal gap has been described by Nasa as "extensive", "rotating our way" and bigger than anything they have seen in over a year.
Not to worry though, the only effect it will have on Earth is an increased chance of observing aurora, which is nice.
As Nasa explain:
Coronal holes are the source of strong solar wind gusts that carry solar particles out to our magnetosphere and beyond.
They appear darker in extreme ultraviolet light images (here, a combination of three wavelengths of UV light) because there is just less matter at the temperatures we are observing in.
Solar wind streams take 2-3 days to travel from the Sun to Earth, and the coronal holes in which they originate are more likely to affect Earth after they have rotated more than halfway around the visible hemisphere of the Sun, which is the case here
