We wake up every morning with the light coming through the window and it is because the star of the Solar System is the source of light and energy that helps guide us.
Recently, as the Solar Dynamics Observatory has published, a coronal hole has been detected in a recent image of the sun and this could anticipate the arrival of solar winds at the end of this week.
The observation of this phenomenon, which does not refer at all to a hole as you might imagine on the surface of the sun, but instead turns out to be an area where the surface is much cooler and does not emit as intense a glow, has the scientific community.
Alex Young, a member of NASA and belonging to the Heliophysics Sciences Division of the Goddard Space Flight Center, has told Business Insider that "The current coronal hole, the largest we can see now, is between 300,000 and 400,000 kilometers in size. This is like 20 to 30 Earths lining up one behind the other."
Coronal hole #86 is now partially facing Earth. The main solar wind flow should pass south of Earth, however an influence will be likely by March 24th and could contribute to a geomagnetic storm. ☀️ pic.twitter.com/MbIWXAkJMn
— Hussein Mohamed (@hsynmhm12504603) March 22, 2023
We are not talking about any kind of strange phenomenon for scientists, since these holes are part of the normal activity of the Sun.
In fact, when talking about fast solar winds, coronal holes are usually found behind them.
These winds, by the way, can reach speeds of around 500 to 800 kilometers per second.
The solar winds from the hole described above are expected to reach our planet later this week.
According to Young himself, we will begin to see its effects from the 24th, when the particles and the magnetic field they carry make contact with our atmosphere.
Other phenomena, such as the so-called coronal mass ejections, do represent a certain danger for the communication activities and electrical devices of the planet, but the event observed on this occasion, despite its magnitude, does not seem to have too adverse effects on our day-to-day life.
One of the consequences of the arrival of the solar winds is that the auroras will be more spectacular, due to the geomagnetic storm that is approaching us.
On the other hand, it seems that we are entering an era where the solar activity will begin to increase and this type of phenomenon will be increasingly common.
