According to media reports on the 27th, a huge "hole" appeared on the surface of the sun, through this "hole" about 18 to 20 the size of the earth, the sun may pour out the "solar wind" towards the earth at a speed of 1.8 million miles per hour (about 2.89 million kilometers per hour) before Friday. Earlier this month, NASA also took a picture of a huge "hole," estimated to be about 20-30 times the size of Earth.
↑ According to media reports on the 27th, a huge coronal hole appeared on the surface of the sun, about 18 to 20 Earth sizes
It is reported that "solar wind" refers to the supersonic plasma charged particle stream ejected from the upper atmosphere of the sun. And this so-called "hole" is the coronal hole. It is understood that the coronal hole is a large area located in the coronal layer, which is denser than the surrounding material and has a lower temperature, which looks like a darker spot from the picture. The solar wind is released into space through coronal holes, and if it eventually reaches Earth, it can cause geomagnetic storms, damage satellites and show visible auroras.
↑In October 2022, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured a photo with a satellite that looked as if the sun was "smiling"
In October last year, NASA captured a photo that looked as if the sun was "smiling", and the "two eyes and one mouth" that formed the smile expression was the coronal hole. Scientists aren't too worried about damaging infrastructure.
It is reported that coronal holes generally occur in the second level of the sun, but Mathew Owens, a professor of space physics at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, believes that because the sun is preparing to enter a peak of activity that occurs about once every 11 years, this coronal hole may appear near the sun's equator. Daniel Verscharen, an associate professor of space and climate physics at University College London, agrees that the shape of the hole is not extraordinary, but its location is very interesting. He predicted that the solar wind through the coronal hole could reach Earth this Friday night or Saturday morning.
If the solar wind interacts with the atmosphere, it could make auroras brighter. According to previous reports, on March 24, local time, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that a rare geomagnetic storm in the early morning of the same day triggered rare auroras in North Carolina, Arizona, Virginia and other parts of the United States.
↑ On March 24, local time, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that a rare geomagnetic storm caused rare auroras in North Carolina, Arizona, Virginia and other parts of the United States Source: CCTV News
According to the report, the aurora appeared because the solar wind was thrown into space at the same time, and the coronal hole was also facing the earth, forming a huge geomagnetic storm. However, experts explained that the coronal hole discovered this time may not cause the dazzling aurora of the previous one. This could be good news for satellite operations. Strong geomagnetic storms are known to wreak havoc on satellites, infrastructure and radio signals. It is understood that in February 2022, Musk's company SpaceX lost 40 Starlink satellites due to geomagnetic storms.
However, the report also pointed out that the current human ability to predict space weather is still relatively backward. Daniel pointed out that to this end, researchers are further improving their understanding of space weather through theoretical physics, plasma simulations on supercomputers, etc.
Red Star News reporter Li Jinrui
Editor-in-charge Guan Li Editor: Guo Yu
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