Coronal hole faces Earth

Wednesday, 14 February 2018 14:55 UTC

This coronal hole has been around for a couple of rotations but its shape has been changing a bit and this coronal hole has also been growing ever so slightly during the past few months. 

The coronal hole stream will likely be preceded by the C1.5 coronal mass ejection which is likely to arrive tomorrow. Be sure to read this news item if you want to know more. It is hard to say how strong the preceding Co-rotating Interaction Region (CIR) will be due to the effects of the coronal mass ejection ahead of the stream but it does look like we have an interesting couple of days ahead with both the effects of a coronal mass ejection and a coronal hole solar wind stream in the mix. Keep your eyes on the solar wind data in the days ahead!

Today's coronal hole detection was triggered by Earth transiting in front of the Sun as seen by SDO.

The image looked a bit out of the ordinary but the detection is legitimate. A coronal hole is facing us today and we should expect its solar wind to arrive within 2 to 3 days. pic.twitter.com/dIHBgqmJLI

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) February 14, 2018