A gigantic coronal hole (A region of the outermost layer of the solar atmosphere in which the magnetic fields conform in order to “leave the passage” to the sun wind free) was spotted by the satellites that monitor the sun on Tuesday 28 January. The “hole” is located in theSouthern hemisphere of the Solar Crown in a region that focuses in the direction of the earth. Is a big 800,000 kmpractically 63 times the diameter of the earthand his training triggered the release of an intense sun wind aimed at our planet who, traveling to the incredible speed of 1.8 million km/hshould hit the earth Friday 31 January. Although the news may seem alarming, let’s see why there is absolutely no need to worry.
What is a coronal hole
THE Coronal holes They are regions of disorder of the slate magnetic field that “opening up” allow the solar wind to escape freely in space, causing extremely fast jets of particles. The solar magnetic field normally shapes arches which make the plasma, following the magnetic field lines, remain “trapped” on the sun surface. Sometimes these magnetic arches openallowing particles to escape from the sun crown.

Coronal holes appear like darker regions In ultraviolet images, such as the one on top of the article. This is due to the fact that they are colder and less dense regions than the surrounding ones. Coronal holes can develop at any time and position on the sun, but are more common and persistent during the years around the solar minimum.
Large coronal hole on the sun: possible consequent and because it does not have to worry
The experts of the Space Weather Prediction Center of the Noaa, the body that deals with monitoring the flow of particles from the sun, currently includes one for Friday G1 type geomagnetic storm conditionthe lowest on the G1 to G1 to G5 scale). Despite the low value, the arrival of the flow of particles from the sun it could trigger auroreboth boreal and southern, at lower latitudes than the usual ones, but Not so low as to be also visible in Italy.
The sun currently is located in Maximum of the current cyclebut surprisingly Sun spots are not visible On the surface that in the presence of a coronal hole they would have determined a serious risk of extreme geomagnetic storm, potentially replicating the spectacular aurores of last year also visible from Italy.