A massive hole opened up in the Sun’s atmosphere over the weekend, measuring more than 60 times the diameter of the Earth across at its peak.
Coronal holes like this one, imaged by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, occur when the Sun’s magnetic field suddenly allows a huge stream of the star’s upper atmosphere to pour out in the form of solar wind.
Over a short period of time, these highly energized particles can eventually make their way to us and — if powerful enough — wreak havoc on satellites in the Earth’s orbit. In rare instances, they can even mess with the electrical grid back on the ground.
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