NASA captures a photo of the Smiling sun which might threaten to earth
A picture of the sun that resembled the baby-faced Teletubbies sun, a.k.a. the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters, was taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.
According to University of California, San Diego professor of physics Brian Keating, the sun is the greatest nuclear reactor in our solar system.
Every second, a flurry of activity takes place, including electrical storms, sunquakes, and the conversion of H into He, which produces heat equivalent to several nuclear bombs.
Some of that solar activity was photographed by NASA’s satellite on Wednesday, Keating told The Washington Post.
In the image, the trio of patches that make up the "face" can’t be seen with human eyes because they’re in the ultraviolet spectrum.
That patches are known as coronal holes, or slightly cooler sections of the sun’s outer layer, which usually have a temperature of about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
The coronal holes aren’t just interesting shapes moving around the sun’s surface.
They are regions with intense magnetic activity that are continuously releasing solar wind or a flow of protons, electrons, and other particles into space.
The worst-case scenario Keating outlined hasn't occurred in nearly two centuries, despite pictures of a smiling sun having been taken in 2013 and 2014 when NASA dubbed it a pumpkin sun.
The Carrington Event in 1859, which resulted in fires at numerous telegraph stations and the appearance of auroras in tropical areas, was the last significant geomagnetic storm.
We've just managed to avoid all these magnetic bullets for so long, Keating said. Scientists anticipate it happening on average, with a few percent likelihood, every year.
The sun’s particles from the latest smile event may reach Earth right on time for the ghostliest night of the year.
We've just managed to avoid all these magnetic bullets for so long, Keating said. Scientists anticipate it happening on average, with a few percent likelihood, every year.
Particles from the sun's most recent grin event might arrive on Earth just in time for the spookiest night of the year.