The act of smiling, considered to brighten moods and bring cheer to the soul is not just for humans - it appears the sun is getting in on the mood-lifting action too. Astonishing images beamed from space currently show the star pulling an uncanny smiley face.
Since Wednesday (October 26), forces of solar wind and plasma have conspired to seemingly display two eyes and a cheeky grin. The phenomenon is continuing today, with NASA reporting: "NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory caught the sun "smiling".
"Seen in ultraviolet light, these dark patches on the sun are known as coronal holes and are regions where fast solar wind gushes out into space". The scenes have been captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft, which observes the sun’s dynamics to "increase understanding of the nature and sources of solar variability".
