Spacecraft Spots Massive 'Hole' Over Sun's North Pole

Spacecraft sees giant 'hole' in sun

www.foxnews.com...

A space telescope aimed at the sun has spotted a gigantic hole in the solar atmosphere — a dark spot that covers nearly a quarter of our closest star, spewing solar material and gas into space.

The so-called coronal hole over the sun's north pole came into view between July 13 and 18 and was observed by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO. NASA released a video of the sun hole as seen by the SOHO spacecraft, showing the region as a vast dark spot surrounded by solar activity.

Coronal holes are darker, cooler regions of the sun's atmosphere, or corona, containing little solar material. In these gaps, magnetic field lines whip out into the solar wind rather than looping back to the sun's surface. Coronal holes can affect space weather, as they send solar particles streaming off the sun about three times faster than the slower wind unleashed elsewhere from the sun's atmosphere, according to a description from NASA.

"While it’s unclear what causes coronal holes, they correlate to areas on the sun where magnetic fields soar up and away, failing to loop back down to the surface, as they do elsewhere," NASA's Karen Fox at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., explained in an image description.

These holes are not uncommon, but their frequency changes with the solar activity cycle. The sun is currently reaching its 11-year peak in activity, known as the solar maximum. Around the time of this peak, the sun's poles switch their magnetism. The number of coronal holes typically decreases leading up to the switch.

After the reversal, new coronal holes appear near the poles. Then as the sun approaches the solar minimum again, the holes creep closer to the equator, growing in both size and number, according to NASA.

reply to post by Skywatcher2011

Yes. It's been posted several times now.
The large coronal hole is now gone.
sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov...

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by Skywatcher2011

 

Yes. It's been posted several times now.
The large coronal hole is now gone.
sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov...

It doesn't do anything besides be a big black hole?

reply to post by Phage


Damnit Phage! I searched on here...guess I blanked out on the search?

reply to post by yourmaker


It produces a fast solar wind.
www.nasa.gov...

reply to post by yourmaker


or bring too rememberance,, "black as sack cloth",,,,which in and off itself a remarkable weave ,,too say say the least,,
ohh hi Page,,

reply to post by Phage


Do these solar winds ever make it off the sun towards Earth?

Hey phage, would that kind of hole be dangerous if earth facing?

Posted elsewhere...and as noted above, the hole is now gone......and this thread is now closed