Within days, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory discovered two giant “holes” in the Sun. The newer one could send the solar wind towards Earth at a speed of 800 kilometers per second (almost 3 million km/h) by Friday. Scientists were interested in the place where the coronal hole appeared.
A second giant hole has appeared on the Sun. A strong solar wind is rushing towards Earth. | Video: Aktuálně.cz/NASA
The first “hole” the size of more than thirty Earths was discovered last week. While it was starting to rotate away from us, a new one appeared – with a diameter of up to 20 Earths. Despite the name, it is not a physical hole in the sun’s surface.
Coronal holes have a lower temperature, so they don’t shine as brightly as other regions of the Sun, which is why they appear black. They release the solar wind into space, which can damage satellites and create auroras if it hits Earth.
Coronal holes are quite common, but they usually appear towards the poles of the Sun. “But when the Sun is about to peak, which happens about every 11 years, these holes appear more often near the Sun’s equator,” Mathew Owens, professor of space physics at the University of Reading, told Insider. This is exactly the case with the second “hole”. “Being on the equator means we’re guaranteed to see fast winds on Earth for a few days,” Owens added.
“The shape of this coronal hole is not particularly special. However, its position makes it very interesting,” says Daniel Verscharen from the Department of Space and Climate Physics at University College London. “I would expect some fast wind from this coronal hole to reach Earth around Friday night into Saturday morning this week. The very fast solar wind can reach speeds of over 800 kilometers per second,” Verscharen said. That’s a speed of less than three million kilometers per hour.
The sun is simply a big ball of plasma. This plasma flows from the Sun’s interior to its surface, creating magnetic fields that ripple and swell, collide and coalesce. According to NASA, a coronal hole is formed when these magnetic fields shoot directly into space.
This makes it easier for the solar wind – that is, bits of solar plasma – to escape at high speed into space, the US server explains. These regions are generally cooler and less dense than the surrounding hot, turbulent plasma. If these magnetic lines are facing Earth, the wind will blow into our atmosphere. Scientists are monitoring the situation to see if the wind will affect Earth’s magnetic field, satellites and other technology.
According to the AP, the blood-red image of the Sun is one of the clearest and clearest videos of our star taken from Earth. | Video: Associated Press
