Mystery at the sun's south pole: Nasa reveals huge 'coronal hole' on the solar surface where wind

This peaked my interest this morning over coffee.

Nasa reveals huge 'coronal hole' on the solar surface where winds reach 500 miles per SECOND

The incredible image was captured on Jan. 1, 2015 by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, shows the coronal hole as a dark region in the south.

There were no fireworks on the sun to welcome in the New Year - and in fact, scientists say the end of the year was relatively quiet on the solar surface.
However, the sun has started 2015 with a mysterious event - a huge hole has appeared.
Known as a coronal hole, the phenomenon occurred near the south pole - and is seen as a dark area covered all of its base in these stunning images.

I know there are many amateur astronomers on ATS as well as some not so amateur ones.

So my question is, is this good doom porn for the new year? Or is this just a normal 'thing' for the sun?

The images comes weeks after warnings that Earth could be hit by a series of damaging solar flares after the largest sunspot to be seen on the star for 24 years aligns with our planet.
The region, renamed Active Region 12192, has now rotated around to face Earth again, and is likely to create CMEs, Nasa scientist Holly Gilbert told Space.com during a video interview.

I love learning about space and I thought this was fascinating. I have never seen a dark region so large as in the first picture.
I thank you in advance for enlightening me.
Signs and wonders in the Heavens comes to mind.
Peace
Steve
SOURCE

I read about this on Spaceweather.com in early December.
Spaceweather
The article stated that the coronal hole stretched around the other side and went up past the equator.
It's even larger than is visible in the picture.

a reply to: sageturkey
DAMN, that is huge.
Thanks for posting it.
I look forward to hearing about it.
Is something that size common.
Hope it hasn't been discussed to death already.

it was bigger than that some days ago.
spaceweather.com...

originally posted by: haven123
it was bigger than that some days ago.
spaceweather.com...

Thanks, another awesome pic.

a reply to: stosh64

What is the mystery here?

Coronal holes aren't particularly mysterious, nor do they pose a threat to us.

www.ips.gov.au...

Great post.

I am going to use this as the basis for my new 'Hollow Sun' theory.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

A coronal hole is only a "hole" in the outer atmosphere of the sun.

a reply to: stosh64
You're quite welcome!
I know that they are not all that uncommon and have been discussed often here. The search function doesn't work with my load of Firefox (tips anyone?), so I can't link to other threads on the subject.
Nonetheless, still amazing. Here's a doozey from July 18, 2003.

Source

originally posted by: Chadwickus
a reply to: stosh64

What is the mystery here?

Coronal holes aren't particularly mysterious, nor do they pose a threat to us.

www.ips.gov.au...

That's why I posted it.
I knew people like you would come along and enlighten me, or rather us.
I think there are a lot of people here who would appreciate enlightenment.
Thank you for that link. I'm off to read it.

originally posted by: Chadwickus

A coronal hole is only a "hole" in the outer atmosphere of the sun.

You're either trying to cover up the fact that an advanced technological society lives inside the sun or you didn't realize I was joking.

I'm going with the former.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Clearly, it's the former.

My apologies, it sounded absurd enough for someone to believe it.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

You're either trying to cover up the fact that an advanced technological society lives inside the sun or you didn't realize I was joking.

Well it is ATS so sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference.

And don't be surprised when a thread about that comes up.

originally posted by: Chadwickus
a reply to: stosh64

What is the mystery here?

Coronal holes aren't particularly mysterious, nor do they pose a threat to us.

www.ips.gov.au...

I am surprised that the government didn't say that the hole is man made and that if we all pay a special tax, it might go away.
There I did it.... prepare for a change to the official position after they read my post.

There were 2 CME's that erupted days apart on the 17th and 20th. I wonder if this occurs because of cooling from them?

The European Space Agency/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, captured this image of a gigantic coronal hole hovering over the sun’s north pole on July 18, 2013, at 9:06 a.m. EDT.

SOURCE: NASA

The European Space Agency/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, captured this image of a gigantic coronal hole hovering over the sun’s north pole on July 18, 2013, at 9:06 a.m. EDT. Coronal holes are dark, low density regions of the sun’s outermost atmosphere, the corona. They contain little solar material, have lower temperatures, and therefore, appear much darker than their surroundings.

Coronal holes are a typical feature on the sun, ...

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OBSERVATION:

I put a welding-helmet on and looked directly at the sun.

To me it looked ... Normal.

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OPINION: Sensationalism ... ( degrees of ).
.

a reply to: FarleyWayne

Hehehe.

Unless you have eyes that can see Ultraviolet, then you won't see the hole.

woohoo!Black Hole Sun!

It's very big isn't it? But not unusual, anyone remember the giant 'Triangle' shaped coronal hole in 2012?

originally posted by: FarleyWayne
OPINION: Sensationalism ... ( degrees of ).
.

No, it is the OP's source (Daily Mail) who are being sensationalising, calling it a mystery. NASA and other genuine science sources are spot on.

And there's a lot more going on at the Sun than meets the eye (literally). This hole is not in the Sun, it's not even a real hole, it's just a temperature drop in a region of the Sun's corona.