Huge ‘black hole’ on the surface of the sun is blasting Earth. It looks like a Hollywood special effect of our sun ‘going dark’ – before it either fizzles out or engulfs our planet in fire. But while the image captured by NASA’s sun-observing Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite looks alarming, it’s pretty normal. <br /> <br />Space weather warnings were issued this week by the operator of the biggest power grid in the US – saying that two large ‘coronal holes’ on the sun might disrupt power supplies. <br /> <br />‘Voltage corrections may be required, false alarms triggered on some protection devices’, said the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center. <br /> <br />‘Drag may increase on low-Earth-orbit satellites, and corrections may be needed for orientation problems’. <br /> <br />Coronal holes look terrifying in the images captured by NASA’s sun-observing Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite – but they’re perfectly safe, and normal. NASA says, ‘Coronal holes are low-density regions of the sun’s atmosphere, known as the corona. Because they contain little solar material, they have lower temperatures and thus appear much darker than their surroundings. <br /> <br />‘Coronal holes are visible in certain types of extreme ultraviolet light, which is typically invisible to our eyes, but is colorized here in purple for easy viewing. <br /> <br />‘Coronal holes are the source of a high-speed wind of solar particles that streams off the sun some three times faster than the slower wind elsewhere.’ <br /> <br />Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2016/10/26/huge-black-hole-on-the-surface-of-the-sun-is-blasting-earth-6216560/#ixzz4OCyxnpa3 https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/news
