A giant hole has opened in the surface of the sun, which could soon send solar winds of millions of miles per hour toward Earth.
The coronal hole is 20 times the size of our planet and is the second of its kind to be discovered in the past week.
Solar winds will affect Friday. The first hole caused the aurora borealis across the sky visible from Earth, and the effect of the second is currently being monitored.
Coronal holes appear as dark spots on images of the Sun when taken using ultraviolet and X-rays. The holes are less dense than the rest of the star, which means the solar wind is better able to escape into space.
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Winds can affect the Earth’s magnetic field, as well as affect satellites and technology.
The two holes were spotted by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. NASA issued a statement saying: “Coronal holes are magnetically open regions and are one source of the high-speed solar wind.
“They appear dark when viewed at many wavelengths of intense ultraviolet light, such as the one shown here. Sometimes, the solar wind can generate aurorae at higher latitudes on Earth.”
Impacts are usually not a danger to Earth, but the location of the second hole is directly on the sun’s equator which makes it a different proposition.
“The shape of this coronal hole is not particularly distinctive. Daniel Verscharen, assistant professor of space physics and climate at University College London, said in an interview with from the inside.
“I expect some fast winds from this coronal hole to come into Earth around Friday night into Saturday morning this week.”
Meanwhile, it was recently revealed that part of the star has left the surface and started spinning around the top as if it were a huge polar vortex, without anyone really knowing why.
Not only that, but scientists recently stated that it gives off a “heartbeat”-like signal.
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