The sun is getting into the Halloween spirit once again. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured a hauntingly festive view of our star on Oct. 28, looking like a cosmic jack-o'-lantern grinning down at Earth.
In the image, captured by SDO's Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), dark coronal holes and bright active regions combine to form what appears to be glowing eyes, a nose and a mischievous smile carved across the solar surface.
That "mouth" however, is more than just a decoration. It's actually a vast coronal hole, an area on the sun's surface where the magnetic field opens up, allowing charged particles (solar wind) to stream freely into space. This particular hole is currently spewing a high-speed solar wind stream toward Earth, which could spark minor (G1) to moderate (G2) geomagnetic storm conditions from Oct. 28 through Oct. 29, according to space weather forecasters.
Source: www.space.com
No comments:
Post a Comment