A Hole In The Sun's Atmosphere

A large hole has opened in the sun's atmosphere, and it spewing a stream of solar wind toward Earth. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) photographed the structure, which is almost 800,000 km wide:

Researchers call this a "coronal hole"--a region in the sun's atmosphere where magnetic fields have opened up, allowing solar wind to escape. The hole looks dark because hot glowing gas normally contained there is missing. The gaseous material is on its way to Earth.

Blowing faster than 500 km/s, the solar wind is due to arrive Jan. 31st. Its impact could spark G1-class (Moderate) geomagnetic storms.

Source: https://www.spaceweather.com/