Scientists are continuously investigating the sun to understand its behavior. Any anomaly on the Sun’s behavior will definitely affect all life forms harvesting energy from it. Recently, NASA made a study of the black holes on the surface of the Sun called the Coronal Hole using the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).

Last May 17, NASA announced that the SDO discovered two Coronal Holes on the surface of the Sun. The other hole is one of the biggest seen in decades which is about “6- to 8-percent of the total solar surface” according to a report by NASA.

The SDO is capable of observing the Sun, including magnetic fields and solar flares which aren’t visible to the naked eye and through a normal telescope. The Coronal holes happen to be on the surface of the Sun where it is less dense and the temperature is cooler than the rest, according to a report by Popular Science.

The findings of the SDO are important in understanding not just the Sun, but also the space environment in general. It is also used to determine if space travel is possible, since the Coronal holes also emit high-speed solar particles, faster than any part of the Sun.

Some researchers and conspiracy theorists fear the discovery of the Coronal Holes. But NASA considers the findings as valuable information.

“While it’s unclear what causes coronal holes, they correlate to areas on the sun where magnetic fields soar up and away, without looping back down to the surface, as they do elsewhere,” said Karen C. Fox and Steele Hill of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in a joint statement.

Source: Nature World News