Nasa has discovered a 75,000 mile-wide hole in the sun

Here’s what we know about it so far…

Nasa announced this week that they have identified a hole in the Sun, measuring 75,000 miles wide.

The hole – which is bigger than earth – is said to be a sunspot: a cool patch on the sun’s surface, appearing because of interactions with the Sun’s magnetic field.

Named AR2665, experts at Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory are monitoring the sunspot, unable to predict how it will develop at such an early stage.

‘A new sunspot group has rotated into view and seems to be growing rather quickly,’ announced Nasa. ‘It is the first sunspot to appear after the Sun was spotless for two days, and it is the only sunspot on the Sun at this moment.’

Releasing a time-lapse video, the Nasa team showed how the sunspot was growing.

‘Our @NASASun observing satellite captured a sunspot on video between July 5-11, as it rotated into view,’ they tweeted to their 24.6 million followers.

Sunspots are fairly common, but according to the Mail Online, this particular patch is so big that it can be seen from Earth, and due to the extent of its size, it might be in danger of letting off solar flares which could potentially lead to radiation.

Follow @NASA on Twitter to stay updated.