NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory reveals large 'coronal hole' on sun's surface

Image credit: NASA/SDO

Washington: NASA released a stunning image taken from its Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) which shows a massive dark hole - a large coronal hole – on the surface of the sun.

Coronal holes are magnetically open areas that are one source of high-speed solar wind.

According to NASA, the high-speed solar wind originating from this coronal hole, imaged on October 10, 2015, by Solar Dynamics Observatory, created a geomagnetic storm near Earth that resulted in several nights of auroras.

The image was taken in wavelengths of 193 Angstroms, which is invisible to our eyes and is typically colorized in bronze.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has been observing the Sun since it was launched in 2010. It is designed to help us understand the Sun's influence on Earth and Near-Earth space by studying the solar atmosphere on small scales of space and time and in many wavelengths simultaneously.