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Nasa captures pic of the Sun 'smiling' with a happy face

A sun which appears to be smilingImage source, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory
Image caption,

Can you see the sun smiling?

Here's something you don't see every day... Nasa has taken a picture of the Sun which looks like it's smiling!

The US space agency's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which is researching the Sun and the light and heat energy it creates, captured the picture and posted it on social media this week.

Many people online have compared the picture of the Sun, which appears to have two eyes and a smile, to a Halloween pumpkin, a lion and even the Sun from The Teletubbies.

What do you think the picture looks like? Let us know in the comments below.

Image source, ESA
Image caption,

Artist's impression of how the Solar Orbiter might look flying close to the Sun

In their social media post, Nasa said: "Seen in ultraviolet light, these dark patches on the Sun are known as coronal holes which are regions where fast solar wind shoots out into space."

These coronal holes are dark because they are the least active regions of the Sun.

The holes emit charged particles in the outer atmosphere and cause solar storms and northern lights when they reach the Earth.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory is a mission launched by Nasa in 2010.

It's spacecraft was set up to observe and help us understand the Sun, it's influence on Earth and how it creates space weather.

What is a solar storm?

A solar storm is when the sun releases huge bursts of energy called solar flares.

Sometimes these particles make it all the way to the Earth and when they collide with the Earth's magnetic field and zones of electronically charged particles, it can dump particles into our upper atmosphere to cause auroras - like the Northern Lights.