NASA released a video of a hole in the sun so massive it’s the equivalent of 50 planet earths across, and takes up about a quarter of the sun’s surface. It’s this big black mass, and it makes your basic sun spot look like a walk in the park. This hole is causing magnetic field lines to whip out into the solar wind instead of back to the sun’s surface.
But here’s what I find most horrifying about this news: Apparently these holes are quite common. They come, they go. (Update February, 2026: I used to have a link that had a video of this particular hole, but it has since disappeared. But never fear. If you google “Spacecraft sees giant hole in sun” you’ll come up with oodles of videos of equally disturbing holes in the sun. It’s kind of rattling.)
Gloriosky. How have I managed to live on this planet for 48 years without knowing this? That’s like, I don’t know, living on Nantucket and not knowing about whales. Living in Orlando and not knowing about Mickey Mouse.
What else am I overlooking?
And how is this change in solar weather impacting us? I have no idea, but I fully intend to blame it for the foul mood I’ve been in for the past few days. Yeah. It’s all the sun’s fault. That’s it.
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