Enormous Coronal Hole 1

An elongated coronal hole rotated across the face of the sun this past week so that it is now streaming solar wind towards Earth (Jan. 2-5, 2017).

Coronal holes are areas of open magnetic field from which solar wind particles stream into space. In this wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light it appears as a dark area near the center and lower portion of the sun. The particle stream will likely generate aurora here on Earth.

Credit Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA.

source SDO