Coronal Hole with Nearby Activity (April 30, 2010)

Hi-res TIF image (1.8M)

Quicktime Movie: Large ( 14M), Small (3.5M)
MPEG Movie (7.1M)

STEREO (Behind) watched over a 48-hour period (April 23-25, 2010) as a substantial coronal hole (the much darker area) rotated towards solar center, while three small coronal mass ejections erupted from active regions near it (above and to the right). Coronal holes appear darker in extreme UV light because there is less material there that the spacecraft is imaging. They are a source of high-speed solar wind that streams particles out into space from there. When that coronal hole rotates around to where it faces Earth (in early May), gusts of solar wind will likely buffet Earth a few days later and generate some aurora at higher latitudes.

SOHO began its Weekly Pick some time after sending a weekly image or video clip to the American Museum of Natural History (Rose Center) in New York City. There, the SOHO Weekly Pick is displayed with some annotations on a large plasma display.

If your institution would also like to receive the same Weekly Pick from us for display (usually in Photoshop or QuickTime format), please send your inquiry to steele.hill@gsfc.nasa.gov.