Smiling Sun in an Image

NASA recently shared an image of the sun seemingly Smiling. The image captured by NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory has dark patches on the sun՚s surface resembling eyes and a smile. According to NASA, the patches are called coronal holes, that can be seen in ultraviolet light but are typically invisible to our eyes. Coronal can last between a few weeks to months.

Smiling Sun in an Image

The coronal holes are the regions on the sun՚s surface from where fast solar winds gushes out into space. Since the holes contain little solar material, they have lower temperatures appearing much darker than their surroundings. The magnetic field is open to interplanetary space and it sends solar material out in a high-speed stream of solar wind.

Solar Effects On Earth

About

  • The coronal holes are not a unique phenomenon appearing throughout the sun՚s approximately 11-year solar cycle.
  • During solar minimum, the holes can last much longer.
  • According to NASA, Solar minimum is a period when activity on the Sun is substantially diminished.
  • The coronal holes are important for understanding the space environment around the earth allowing the technology and astronauts travel.
  • In 2016 NASA spotted coronal holes covering “6 - 8% of the total solar surface” .
  • It is yet not clear what causes coronal holes; however, they correlate to areas on the sun where magnetic fields soar up and away, without looping back down to the surface as they do elsewhere.
  • NASA also stated that “Scientists study the fast solar wind streams since they sometimes interact with earth՚s magnetic field, creating what is called a geomagnetic storm, exposing satellites to radiation and interfere with communication signals.”
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the US government agency stated that geomagnetic storms relate to earth՚s magnetosphere which is the space around a planet influenced by its magnetic field.
  • The moment a high-speed solar stream arrives at the earth, under certain circumstances it can allow energetic solar wind particles for hitting the atmosphere over the poles.
  • Since there is a very efficient exchange of energy from the solar wind into the space environment surrounding earth, the geomagnetic storms cause a major disturbance of the magnetosphere.
  • The resulting geomagnetic storm in cases of a strong solar wind reaching the earth can cause changes in the ionosphere.
  • It is through the ionosphere, that Radio and GPS signals travel through and so communications can get disrupted.
  • Solar storms are not harmful for the human beings directly but technologies especially related to radio, communications, GPS, etc. are severely affected during the solar storms.

Solar Flare

  • An intense burst of radiation coming from the release of magnetic energy associated with the sunspots.
  • Flares are also the largest explosive events of the solar system.
  • Since these flares are made up of photons, they travel out directly from the flare site.
  • They can be observed as bright areas of the Sun and can last from minutes to hours.
  • They impact Earth only when they occur on the side of the Sun facing Earth.
  • At most every wavelength of the spectrum, one can typically see a solar flare by the photons (or light) it releases.
  • Flares are monitored in primary ways in x rays and optical light.
  • Flares are also the sites where particles are accelerated: Electrons, Protons, Heavier particles

Examrace Team at Mar 4, 2023