PIA00577: Coronal Hole Facing Earth
 Target Name:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  SDO
 Instrument:  Atmosphere Imaging Assembly
 Product Size:  1500 x 1332 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  SDO
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA00577.tif (3.339 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA00577.jpg (130 kB)

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Original Caption Released with Image:

An extensive equatorial coronal hole has rotated so that it is now facing Earth (May 2-4, 2018). The dark coronal hole extends about halfway across the solar disk. It was observed in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. This magnetically open area is streaming solar wind (i.e., a stream of charged particles released from the sun) into space. When Earth enters a solar wind stream and the stream interacts with our magnetosphere, we often experience nice displays of aurora.

Movies
PIA00577_Two_ARs_171_big.mp4
PIA00577_Two_ARs_171_sm.mp4

SDO is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Its Atmosphere Imaging Assembly was built by the Lockheed Martin Solar Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), Palo Alto, California.

Image Credit:
NASA/GSFC/Solar Dynamics Observatory

Image Addition Date:
2018-05-15