"Say cheese! Today, 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," tweeted NASA' s handle which especially study the Sun.
But, according to space experts, the picture of the Sun is not as happy as it looks. The dark patches which are seen in ultraviolet light are actually coronal holes, which are the regions from where fast solar wind gushes out into space.
These coronal holes can also cause a solar storm on Earth as they release a complex stream of solar winds. The face-like pattern is a result of the coincidental positioning of these coronal holes, which are basically open magnetic field regions in the Sun's atmosphere that are cooler and denser than the surrounding plasma.
Solar storms are intense bursts of radiation released from the magnetic energy on the Sun's surface.
Spaceweather.com, a website that keeps track of all the solar activities informs that due to this ‘smiling face’ of the Sun, an intense solar storm is expected to hit Earth on 28 and 28 October.
Solar storms are not directly harmful to human beings and the health of human beings is not affected, but technologies especially related to radio, communications, GPS, etc. are severely affected during solar storms.
Space missions or astronauts working in space can also get affected due to the magnetic energy-induced radiation released from the surface of the Sun.
