NASA Captures Photo of Smiling Sun, Not a Good Sign

VIVA – NASA shared an image our sun appeared to be grinning back at the planets, with three dark spots making up what resembled a happy face on October 26, 2022. In the human context, it could be a positive way. However, as it turned out, the smiling Sun was a bad sign because it would be bathed in plasma vomit.

According to Live Science, Tuesday, November 1, 2022, those happy blotches are, in fact, coronal holes or regions in the sun’s corona, or outermost atmosphere, where solar wind gushes into space, according to NASA.

"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." As quoted from the People site, on November 1, 2022.

Much like sunspots, which are dark blotches of chaotic magnetic activity that happen down on the sun’s surface, coronal holes appear black because they are cooler than the plasma that surrounds them. From these cool portals, the sun’s constant wind of charged particles streams into space at more than one million mph.

Problems could arise if these small particles protons, electrons, and others arrive at Earth in huge quantities, the scientist said, which might cause mayhem with communication systems. A severe solar storm can even damage electrical grids.

Well, the smiling sun is not a new phenomenon. In October 2014, NASA released an image of the grinning star, dubbing the Halloween-pegged picture "Pumpkin Sun."

Also, in 2019, NASA re-shared the photo of the sun looking eerily like a freshly carved jack-o-lantern.