NASA shared this unusual photo on its social media, a photo of the sun taken in UV mode where our sun looks like it is laughing.
The photo shows two obvious black dots, which resemble eyes, and a large arc similar to smile. In fact, all these black areas are so-called coronal hole . They often appear on the sun, providing the source of solar wind . This time, by chance, they made them look smiling.
What is a coronal hole?
Coronal hole phenomenon is closely related to the magnetic force of the sun. The star is surrounded by a magnetic field, affecting all processes in its atmosphere. Sometimes, magnetic field lines are open—that is, they extend directly into space. In these places, the solar wind is more likely to escape into space, leaving cooler, less dense plasma areas. The appearance of the coronal hole in
is related to the stage of the solar cycle. During the maximum solar activity - when the sun's magnetic field changes its direction - huge coronal holes appear in the areas of the solar poles, which the SOHO detector recorded in 2013.
As the sun moves toward its lowest point, these coronal holes will move away from the poles and get closer to the equator. They are also growing in number. They can cause magnetic storms on Earth , but are not as strong as the so-called coronal mass ejection (CME).
What is SDO?
Smiling sun photos were taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) detector. It was launched in 2010 to measure solar activity and analyze the solar atmosphere. The detector is equipped with three research instruments, not only that, it can also observe the sun's every move in ultraviolet mode.
However, this impressive photo of the sun's smiling face successfully captured by the SDO detector is not only due to the particularity of its equipment, but also to the ability of our brains, one of which is imagination, or the tendency to see familiar shapes in completely random images.
The most common effect is to see different images at random locations, which is like the Mars surface photos we see, we may have various associations that make the sun taken by SDO smile so brightly at us.
Who does the smiling sun remind us of?
Of course, for the human brain, it is not enough to just associate it with a face. Under the information posted by NASA on social media, many specific visual associations emerged: similar to cartoon images in photos.
Finally people associate it with the movie. The smiling sun seems to remind people of a character in the movie "Ghostbusters" - Stay-Puft Marshmallow Mana. That is, a giant marshmallow wearing a sailor hat, the character embodies the Sumerian god Gozer.
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