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Coronal Hole Facing Earth

May 15, 2018
On May 2-4, 2018, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory observed an extensive equatorial coronal hole has rotated so that it is now facing Earth. The dark coronal hole extends about halfway across the solar disk.

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.

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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.

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