- The act of smiling, considered to brighten moods and bring cheer to the soul.
- Incredible images beamed from space show the sun pulling an uncanny ‘smiley face’
- It appears the sun is getting in on the mood-lifting action too.
Astonishing images beamed from space currently show our star pulling an uncanny smiley face. Since 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”.
Smiley In The Sky
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.
SDO documents the outer atmosphere of the sun, called the corona, as well as hot flare plasma. NASA said: “Hot active regions, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections will appear bright here.”
A Big Ball Of Energy
The SDO studies how energy is stored and released in the sun’s atmosphere, where the sun’s energy comes from, and the interior of the sun in order to better model and forecast “space weather.” The sun is the star at the center of the solar system.
It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. It radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radiation.
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Source: Walesonline
