(Web Desk) – A huge dark spot, 60 times wider than our planet (about 497,000 miles) has manifested on the Sun's surface.
And this void is spewing fast-moving solar wind, a form of radiation, directly toward the Earth.
Known as a coronal hole, the void formed near the Sun's equator on Dec. 2 and has grown since then, enabling charged solar wind, a form of radiation to flow toward our world.
By Dec. 4, the void was pointing toward Earth. And as of Tuesday, Dec. 5, the Earth was also predicted to receive a glancing blow of radiation courtesy of a plasma explosion called a coronal mass ejection.
As a result, geomagnetic storms in Earth's atmosphere could in turn trigger auroras, the stunning light shows created by charged particles interacting in our atmosphere near the planet's poles.
The coronal hole's sheer size has defied scientists' expectations for this point of the Sun's solar cycle, an 11-year-long period of activity that appears to be heading toward a peak in the next year called the solar maximum.
Typically, coronal holes manifest near the Sun's poles during the solar maximum. But this void's location near the equator and its timing challenges that understanding and could help scientists better prepare for solar weather coming our way.
"Regardless of its atypical characteristics, the solar void's impact on our geomagnetic conditions underscores the complexity of solar interactions with Earth," said a spokesperson from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which tracks space weather.
Scientists are unclear how long the hole will last — in the past, coronal holes have managed to stay open for about a month. But experts believe the hole could soon rotate away from Earth, shielding us from what might venture from it.