A face for the less jovial. NASA posted this Thursday on one of its Twitter accounts an image of the “smiling” Sun. In this image, several dark spots are visible and appear to form eyes and a mouth on the star: these are coronal holes, regions where solar matter is projected into space, specifies the US space agency.
This phenomenon is “pareidolia,” Numerama points out: “an optical illusion caused by visual or sensory stimuli that tricks us into seeing a humanized face where there isn’t one.” In this case, the images captured by NASA correspond more to “solar plasma violently expelled by the winds”, visible when observing the Sun in ultraviolet because the areas in question are cooler and less dense.
The publication of the American space agency has provoked many reactions, compiled by the guardian: some have compared the smiling star with a halloween pumpkin, to a lion or even under the sun of the children’s show teletubbies, as seen in the tweet above. It is up to you to make your own decision.
Source: BFM TV
