Do You See 'Big Bird' in This NASA Photo of The Sun?

Reports of the likenesses of Jesus or the Virgin Mary are spotted in a variety of locations on any given day the world over. But we want to know is if you see the image of Sesame Street's 8-foot, 2-inch "Big Bird" smack dab in the middle of the sun in this photo?

Well, according to a NASA press release: "This image of a coronal hole on the sun bears a remarkable resemblance to the Sesame Street character Big Bird. Coronal holes are regions where the sun's corona is dark. These features were discovered when x-ray telescopes were first flown above the Earth’s atmosphere to reveal the structure of the corona across the solar disc. Coronal holes are associated with 'open' magnetic field lines and are often found at the sun’s poles. The high-speed solar wind is known to originate in coronal holes. The solar wind escaping from this hole could reach Earth around June 5-7."

Laguna Niguel resident, Richard Bent, who spent more than 20 years working on satellites and rockets for the aerospace industry, said: "As far as the Coronal hole, I have a hard time seeing Big Bird in there."

He added that it would be interesting to know what others see.

"The hole is caused when solar plasma is at a lower density and is darker and cooler than the surrounding area," he said.

In other words, "the holes are rooted in large cells of unipolar magnetic fields on the sun’s surface; their field lines extend far out into the solar system." 

"These open field lines allow a continuous outflow of high-speed solar wind. They are most visible near the polar areas during so called solar minimums but can be anywhere on the sun during solar maximums," Bent said.

Solar wind is known to travel along the magnetic lines of the sun and can reach speeds of 400 km/sec, over 14,000 miles per hour. The Earth like other planets has some protection from solar wind provided by Earth's own magnetic field, however, solar wind can cause disruption of electronics here on earth and can damage electronics on satellites, Bent added.

Check out spaceweather.com/

Incidentally, according to muppet.wikia.com: Big Bird first came onto the scene—or on the tube in the very first episode in 1969—and lives in a large nest behind 123 Sesame Street and next to Oscar's trash can, and he has a teddy bear named Radar.

Do you see Big Bird, tell us in comments. We're still on the fence whether we do or don't.