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See huge coronal hole that opened up on the surface of the sun

Coronal holes allow more charged particles to escape the sun as solar winds, and on 29 January, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft spotted a vast new one

5 February 2025

The Sun viewed on 29 January 2025 in the extreme ultraviolet range by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft. A vast 500,000 mile-wide coronal hole has opened in the sun's atmosphere. The area measures over 62 times the diameter of Earth and is now shooting high-speed solar wind toward Earth. When such solar activity is directed at Earth, the resulting geomagnetic storms can potentially disrupt satellite operations, power grids, navigation systems, and radio communications. There may also be spectacular displays of aurora caused as the Earth's magnetosphere is disturbed by the solar wind. According to spaceweather.com, this wind is estimated to hit Earth by Friday (31 Jan), resulting in G1 geomagnetic storm conditions. — SDO/NASA/swns

A huge coronal hole – the large, darker area in the middle of this image – appeared on the surface of the sun on 29 January. Measuring more than 800,000 kilometres across, it was spotted by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft. Coronal holes are areas of cooler plasma that have a magnetic field structure that allows more charged particles to escape as solar winds.

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