A NASA spacecraft, Karen Fox, captured on video various images of a massive hole in the sun's atmosphere. The solar anomaly known as a coronal hole was estimated to be almost a quarter of the sun's size and reported to be emitting solar gas and other material into space.

The hole in the sun was first spotted between July 13 and 18 by the Solar and Heliosphere Observatory (SOHO). The SOHO satellite was first launched in 1995 with NASA and the European Space Agency in-charge of operations and the monitoring of solar activity.

The coronal hole is defined by scientists as a cooler and darker area of the sun's atmosphere. The hole in the sun's atmosphere has little solar material which allows the magnetic field lines to whip out into the solar wind. In other regions of the sun, the magnetic field lines may be seen as a loop that juts out then comes back to the surface of the sun.

The video captured by NASA's Karen Fox spacecraft was released and the space agency's Goddard Space Flight Center explained the anomaly.

NASA officials said it was still unclear how coronal holes or holes in the sun are formed and what causes them. Coronal holes are linked to regions of the sun where magnetic fields fly up and away. These magnetic fields fail to fall back down on the sun's surface.

NASA explained coronal holes are not rare. Their frequency of occurring will depend on the cycle of the sun's activity. According to NASA, the sun is beginning to reach its eleventh year in peak activity which means the sun will be having more powerful solar storms.

The peak in solar activity also means the sun's poles will reverse their magnetism. NASA said the number of holes on the sun will diminish as the poles switch. New coronal holes may appear near the poles. As the sun approaches its solar minimum, the holes near the poles will move to the sun's equator.

Holes on the sun's atmosphere can affect the weather in space like coronal mass ejections since they give off solar particles from the surface of the sun three times faster as the wind blowing in other regions.