[AMRadio] Holes in the sun.

[w5jo at brightok.net]

>From Space Weather.

http://www.spaceweather.com/

HOLES IN THE SUN'S ATMOSPHERE: Earth is about to be strobed by three streams 
of solar wind--each flowing from a hole the sun's atmosphere. NASA's Solar 
Dynamics Observatory photographed the gaseous spigots on July 29th:

These are "coronal holes"--places where the sun's magnetic field peels back 
and allows solar wind to escape. Coronal holes look dark in extreme 
ultraviolet images of the sun because glowing-hot plasma normally contained 
there is missing.
The first of the streams is expected to arrive on Aug 1st, followed by two 
more in rapid succession on Aug. 4th. Polar geomagnetic unrest and possibly 
some minor magnetic storms are possible on those dates. High-latitude sky 
watchers should be alert for auroras, especially in the southern hemisphere 
where winter darkness favors visibility