National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Earth Atmosphere "Breathes," Thanks to Solar Winds


Email to a Friend	<< Back to Full Story

A wide coronal hole appears as a large dark area in this extreme ultraviolet light image of the sun taken by NASA's SOHO spacecraft.

A study presented in December 2008 says such holes help send high-pressure solar winds toward Earth, where they may cause a newly observed "breathing" effect in our upper atmosphere.

Image courtesy NASA