NASA Spots a Weird (and Rare) Circular Sight on the Sun

[Judi Lynn]

By Tariq Malik, Space.com Managing Editor | November 9, 2017 07:33am ET

A NASA spacecraft watching the sun has captured a rare view of a true space oddity: something scientists call an "encircling filament" near a "hole" in Earth's parent star.

The filament, which was photographed by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) between Oct. 29 and Oct. 31, appears as a tendril of dark material surrounding an active region on the sun's surface.

"Only a handful of times before have we seen one shaped like a circle," NASA officials wrote in an image description. "The black area to the left of the brighter active region is a coronal hole, a magnetically open region of the sun." [The Sun in HD: Amazing Photos by SDO]

More:
https://www.space.com/38721-rare-sun-circular-filament-seen-by-nasa.html?utm_source=notification

[PJMcK]

1. Nature is beautiful

Thanks for posting this link, Judi Lynn!

[Sancho]

2. A nexus?