NASA Captured an Image of the Sun Smiling
Despite the cheerful appearance of our star, what caused its smile might be rather unpleasant for the inhabitants of Earth and has a scientific explanation.
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has published an image of the Sun "smiling." Despite the cheerful appearance of our star, what caused its smile might be rather unpleasant for the inhabitants of Earth and has a scientific explanation.
The dark patches that outwardly look like a mouth and eyes are, in fact, coronal holes – regions where fast bursts of solar wind rush out into space.
Flows of solar material can escape from coronal holes at speeds of 400 to 800 km/s and eventually reach Earth.
Solar flares and ejections of this type do not cause significant problems on Earth. As a rule, the main consequence of such impact is aurora lightshows and sometimes communication systems disruptions.