Video released by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows a "coronal hole" on the sun. According to NASA:
"A coronal hole is an area where high-speed solar wind streams into space. It appears dark in extreme ultraviolet light as there is less material to emit in these wavelengths."
The hole was captured on video taken May 5 to 7, 2014.
"Inside the coronal hole you can see bright loops where the hot plasma outlines little pieces of the solar magnetic field sticking above the surface," the Solar Dynamics Observatory explains in the video description. "Because it is positioned so far south on the Sun, there is less chance that the solar wind stream will impact us here on Earth."
In 2013, NASA spotted a large coronal hole near the sun's north pole and noted, "While it’s unclear what causes coronal holes, they correlate to areas on the sun where magnetic fields soar up and away, failing to loop back down to the surface, as they do elsewhere."
via Discovery Channel
