SOHO is a spacecraft built by a European consortium and launched in 1995 to study the Sun. (Picture from: http://www.space-exploratorium.com/) |
The hole was visible at the Sun's north pole at July 18 and 13, 2013. In a video released on July 30, 2013, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) says the coronal holes are darker, cooler regions of the sun's atmosphere, or corona, containing little solar material. In an empty area, the sun's magnetic field stripped it out into the solar storm.
"While it’s unclear what causes coronal holes, they correlate to areas on the sun where magnetic fields soar up and away, failing to loop back down to the surface, as they do elsewhere," NASA's Karen Fox at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., explained in an image description.
Coronal hole and its magnetic field. (Picture from: http://www.windows2universe.org/) |
Fox said corona hole affecting weather in space due to send solar particles approximately three times faster than any other area on the sun's atmosphere. Changes in frequency of occurrence of coronal holes could be considered in accordance with the cycle of solar activity. This year, the sun reaches its peak activity in 11 years, known as the solar maximum phase. Around this time of peak solar magnetic field reverses.
Giant Coronal Hole takes over huge portion of the Sun. (Picture from: http://news.softpedia.com/) |
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