NASA Observatory Captured an 'Eerie' Smile on Sun, Experts Reveal the Dark Holes Are 'Cooler' Spots
Sun's happiness in an image published by NASA on its social media took multiple individuals aback. The image featured the brightest star sporting an eerie smile in 2022. Due to the uncanniness of the whole picture, it became the subject of multiple memes. The scene was captured by Solar Dynamics Observatory, a spacecraft sent by NASA to track changes in the Sun, CNN reported. The spacecraft was launched in 2010 and is a constituent of the Living With a Star Program.
(Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Carlos Barquero)
The image was captioned, "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." The post quickly became viral with 20.7k likes.
United Kingdom’s Science and Technology Facilities Council kicked off the meme bandwagon by turning the sun from the original image into a jack-o’-lantern. Users one-upped the effort by turning the features to look like a lion and pointing out similarities with various snack foods.
@stardustrooba chimed in with a reference to a very popular show writing "That damned smile!" @Emma_Quirk took to the comment section to make a thinly veiled criticism of the planet's present state "I like to watch the world burn."
The space agency seeing the instant popularity of the 'smiling sun' explained that the unique patterns coming out in the photo were a result of coronal holes, CNN reported. The coronal holes are portions of the sun that are not as hot or dense as the surrounding areas. They don't have a specific position on the star and can pop up anywhere.
The holes are not dormant by nature and can release streams of solar wind, or charged particles under the influence of their magnetic field. These winds are so powerful, that they frequently even reach the earth. The planet's magnetic field largely deflects these winds, but sometimes they impact the atmosphere.
Since these images of coronal holes are being processed in ultraviolet light, they look like irregular black patches, CNN reported. The patches coming together make it seem like the sun is smiling.