Solar Activity and Sun Observations

A series of images showcasing solar phenomena including flares, active regions, and magnetic formations on the sun, highlighting its dynamic nature in various wavelengths.

November 3, 2011 - An X 1.9 class flare bursts out from an active region on the sun, numbered AR1339, which just rounded over the left side of the sun into Earth's view. That flare triggered some disruption to radio communications on Earth.

Image released April 22, 2013 In the three years since it first provided images of the sun in the spring of 2010, NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory has had virtually unbroken coverage of the sun's rise toward solar maximum, the peak of solar activity in its regular 11-year cycle. This image is a composite of 25 separate images spanning the period of April 16, 2012, to April 15, 2013. It uses the SDO AIA wavelength of 171 angstroms and reveals the zones on the sun where active regions are most common during this part of the solar cycle.

November 3, 2011 - An X 1.9 class flare bursts out from an active region on the sun, numbered AR1339, which just rounded over the left side of the sun into Earth's view. That flare triggered some disruption to radio communications on Earth.

A filament (which at one point had an eerie similarity to a snake) broke away from the sun and out into space (Nov. 1, 2014). The video covers just over three hours of activity. This kind of eruptive event is called a Hyder flare. These are filaments (elongated clouds of gases above the sun's surface) that erupt and cause a brightening at the sun's surface, although no active regions are in that area. It did thrust out a cloud of particles but not towards Earth. The images were taken in the 304 Angstrom wavelength of extreme UV light.

A view from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft Behind shows a pair of active regions. Two surges of material burst out from the region to the left, and the second surge appears to break away from its magnetic bindings. The Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUVI) was operating at 304 Angstroms.

Two active regions with their intense magnetic fields produced towering arches and spiraling coils of solar loops above them (June 29 - July 1, 2014) as they rotated into view. When viewed in extreme ultraviolet light, magnetic field lines are revealed by charged particles that travel along them. These active regions appear as dark sunspots when viewed in filtered light. Note the small blast in the upper of the two major active regions, followed by more coils of loops as the region reorganizes itself. The still was taken on June 30 at 10 33 UT.

Caption: A burst of solar material leaps off the left side of the sun in whats known as a prominence eruption. This image combines three images from NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory captured on May 3, 2013, at 1:45 pm EDT, just as an M-class solar flare from the same region was subsiding. The images include light from the 131, 171 and 304 Angstrom wavelengths.

The Extreme Ultraviolet Sun shown in false-colour, the composite view covers extreme ultraviolet wavelengths and traces hot plasma at temperatures approaching 1 million kelvins. At full resolution, SDO image data is intended to explore solar activity in unprecedented detail.

A prominence observed along the right edge of the sun rose up and then most of it bent back down to the surface, as seen by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on Oct. 4, 2016.

One active region at the edge of the Sun pushed out about ten thrusts of plasma in just over a day long period as observed by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on July 9-10, 2016.

A bright solar prominence rose up from the Sun and twisted around in about a six-hour period (Apr. 21, 2015). While some of the material broke away into space, much of it fell back into the Sun. The images were taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. At its greatest height, the plume extended out many times the size of Earth, allowing numerous amateur astronomers to observe this event with their solar telescopes.

The Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft Ahead observed in the 304 Angstrom wavelength an eruptive solar prominence on the edge of the Sun.

January 28, 2011 - Two solar prominences erupt from the Sun.

The sun emitted a significant solar flare, peaking at 5 40 p.m. EDT on Oct. 24, 2014. The flare erupted from a particularly large active region -- labeled AR 12192 -- on the sun that is the largest in 24 years. This is the fourth substantial flare from this active region since Oct. 19. Read more a href= http //www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/giant-sunspot-erupts-with-4th-substantial-flare rel= nofollow www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/giant-sunspot-erupts-with-4t... /a

STEREO (Ahead) caught the action as one edge of a single active region spurted out more than a dozen surges of plasma in less than two days (Feb. 15-16, 2010). As seen in extreme UV light, the surges were narrow and directional outbursts driven by intense magnetic activity in the active region. While these kinds of outbursts have been observed numerous times, it was the frequency of so many surges in a short span of time that caught our attention. In this wavelength of UV light we are seeing singly ionized Helium at about 60,000 degrees C.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a mid-level solar flare - as seen in the bright flash in the middle -on Dec. 16, 2014 shortly before midnight EST. Read more a href= http //1.usa.gov/1BYLxsE rel= nofollow 1.usa.gov/1BYLxsE /a

On Jan. 23-24, 2017, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory watched as a solar prominence rose up along the edge of the sun and twisted and churned for about two days before falling apart. The dynamic action was generated by competing magnetic forces.

On March 29, 2014 the sun released an X-class flare. It was observed by NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS; NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO; NASA's Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, or RHESSI; the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hinode; and the National Solar Observatory's Dunn Solar Telescope located at Sacramento Peak in New Mexico. To have a record of such an intense flare from so many observatories is unprecedented. Such research can help scientists better understand what catalyst sets off these large explosions on the sun. Perhaps we may even some day be able to predict their onset and forewarn of the radio blackouts solar flares can cause near Earth - blackouts that can interfere with airplane, ship and military communications. Read more a href= http //1.usa.gov/1kMDQbO rel= nofollow 1.usa.gov/1kMDQbO /a Join our Google+ Hangout on May 8 at 2 30pm EST a href= http //go.nasa.gov/1mwbBEZ rel= nofollow go.nasa.gov/1mwbBEZ /a

The magnetic field lines of three active regions in close proximity to one another interacted with each other over two and a half days (Feb. 8-10, 2016). This image is from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.

A beautiful prominence eruption shot off the east limb (left side) of the sun on Monday, April 16, 2012. Such eruptions are often associated with solar flares, and in this case an M1 class (medium-sized) flare did occur at the same time, though it was not aimed toward Earth. This event, which is still in progress, was seen by NASAs SDO satellite.

A close-up of an active region of the Sun from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO)'s Ahead spacecraft in extreme ultraviolet revealed an interesting, yet subtle, phenomenon. Besides a pair of small eruptions over this 40-hour period, one small point (lower center) was the source of a steady outpouring of material in all directions around it during the whole time.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) zoomed in almost to its maximum level to watch tight, bright loops and much longer, softer loops shift and sway above an active region on the sun, while a darker blob of plasma in their midst was pulled about every which way (May 13-14, 2014).

A pair of giant filaments on the face of the sun have formed what appears to be an enormous arrow. If straightened out, each filament would be about as long as the suns diameter, 1 million miles long. Filaments are cooler clouds of solar material suspended above the sun's surface by powerful magnetic forces. Filaments can float for days without much change, though they can also erupt, releasing solar material in a shower that either rains back down or escapes out into space, becoming a moving cloud known as a coronal mass ejection, or CME. This image was captured on May 28, 2015, in combined wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which observes the sun 24 hours a day.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured agnetic arcs of plasma that spiraled above two active regions held their shape fairly well over 18 hours on Jan. 11-12, 2017.

This still image from an animation from NASA GSFC's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows magnetically charged particles forming a nicely symmetrical arch at the edge of the Sun as they followed the magnetic field lines of an active region (Aug.4-5, 2015).

As an active region rotated into view, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory was able to observe well-defined magnetic loops gyrating above the sun between Mar, 23-24, 2017.

The Sun in astrophotography showing solar surface and bright energy

A pair of relatively small (but frenetic) active regions rotated into view, spouting off numerous small flares and sweeping loops of plasma (May 31-June 2, 2017). At first, only the one active region was observed, but mid-way though the video clip a second one behind the first can be picked out. The dynamic regions were easily the most remarkable areas on the sun during this 42-hour period. The images were taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. Movies are available at

On December 18-19, 2005 the Sun produced a nicely elongated plume of gases that appeared and erupted over a period of 11 hours. We call these eruptive prominences. In these images we are observing the Sun in extreme ultraviolet light in the 304 Angstrom wavelength - the material imaged is actually ionized helium at about 60,000 C, not far above the surface of the Sun. But of course the elongated plume reaches far beyond the Sun, several hundred thousand miles or about 35 times the size of the Ea

January 22, 2012 -An M8.7 class flare erupts on the Sun's surface, an earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME), and a burst of fast moving, highly energetic protons known as a solar energetic particle event.

. A First for NASA's IRIS Observing a Gigantic Eruption of Solar Material

Several bright bands of plasma connect from one active region to another, even though they are tens of thousands of miles away from each other (May 17-18, 2017). Active regions are, by their nature, strong magnetic areas with north and south poles. The plasma consists of charged particles that stream along the magnetic field lines between these two regions. These connecting lines are clearly visible in this wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. Other loops and strands of bright plasma can be seen rising up and out of smaller active regions as well. The video covers about one day's worth of activity. Movies are available at

Solar Prominence

Magnetic arcs of solar material spewing from our favorite sphere of hot plasma, the sun. Magnetic arcs of solar material held their shapes fairly well as they spiraled above two solar active regions over 18 hours on Jan. 11-12, 2017. The charged solar material, called plasma, traces out the magnetic field lines above the active regions when viewed in wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light, captured here by NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory. Extreme ultraviolet light is typically invisible to our eyes, but is colorized here in gold for easy viewing.

The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 2 23 EDT on June 22, 2015. NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. To see how this event may affect Earth, please visit NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center at a href= http //spaceweather.gov rel= nofollow spaceweather.gov /a , the U.S. government's official source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings. This flare is classified as a M6.6 flare. M-class flares are a tenth the size of the most intense flares, the X-class flares. The number provides more information about its strength. An M2 is twice as intense as an M1, an M3 is three times as intense, etc.

Ultraviolet View of the Sun

A filament (which at one point had an eerie similarity to a snake) broke away from the sun and out into space (Nov. 1, 2014). The video covers just over three hours of activity. This kind of eruptive event is called a Hyder flare. These are filaments (elongated clouds of gases above the sun's surface) that erupt and cause a brightening at the sun's surface, although no active regions are in that area. It did thrust out a cloud of particles but not towards Earth. The images were taken in the 304 Angstrom wavelength of extreme UV light.

Several short stalks of cooler, darker plasma spun and twisted as they interacted with each other at the sun's edge (June 14-15, 2017). The row of strands, which together form a prominence, were being pulled back and forth by magnetic forces. The dynamic action was observed for just over one day. Also noteworthy is the rapid development of a bright active region in the upper right about halfway through the clip. Movies are available at

An active region at the sun's edge produced several M5-class (medium sized) flares over a ten-hour period on Apr. 3, 2017, as seen by NASA's SDO.

Illustration of the Sun.

On Oct. 18, 2014, a sunspot rotated over the left side of the sun, and soon grew to be the largest active region seen in the current solar cycle, which began in 2008. Currently, the sunspot is almost 80,000 miles across -- ten Earth's could be laid across its diameter. Sunspots point to relatively cooler areas on the sun with intense and complex magnetic fields poking out through the sun's surface. Such areas can be the source of solar eruptions such as flares or coronal mass ejections. So far, this active region - labeled AR 12192 -- has produced several significant solar flares an X-class flare on Oct. 19, an M-class flare on Oct. 21, and an X-class flare on Oct. 22, 2014. The largest sunspot on record occurred in 1947 and was almost three times as large as the current one. Active regions are more common at the moment as we are in what's called solar maximum, which is the peak of the sun's activity, occurring approximately every 11 years.

detailed sun in space A detailed sun in space. 3D illustration Copyright: xZoonar.com/magannx 19330198

Millions of excited people in the U.S. traveled many miles see a total eclipse, and what a show it was. The SDO spacecraft was not so fortunate its orbit only allowed it to observe a partial eclipse that at its peak covered only about 14 per cent of the sun (Aug. 21, 2017). Most of the people in the U.S. (weather permitting) observed at least 60 per cent coverage of the sun by the Moon. The good news for SDO is that it gets to see partial and solar eclipses several times a year. So, it all kind of balances out, in a way. An animation is available at

Image of the Moon transiting across the Sun, taken by SDO in 171 angstrom extreme ultraviolet light on August 21, 2017.

This Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) image of the Sun taken on January 20, 2012 in extreme ultraviolet light captures a heart-shaped dark coronal hole. Coronal holes are areas of the Sun's surface that are the source of open magnetic field lines that head way out into space. They are also the source regions of the fast solar wind, which is characterized by a relatively steady speed of approximately 800 km/s (about 1.8 million mph). b a href= http //www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html rel= nofollow NASA image use policy. /a /b b a href= http //www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html rel= nofollow NASA Goddard Space Flight Center /a /b enables NASAs mission through four scientific endeavors Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASAs accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agencys mission. b Follow us on a href= http //twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix

great image of a sun or lava planet in space

On Sept. 12-14,2016 NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spotted a series of active regions stretched along the right side of the sun exhibited a wide variety of loops cascading above them. Earth quickly passed in front of a portion of the sun.

Caption This is an image of magnetic loops on the sun, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). It has been processed to highlight the edges of each loop to make the structure more clear. A series of loops such as this is known as a flux rope, and these lie at the heart of eruptions on the sun known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs.) This is the first time scientists were able to discern the timing of a flux rope's formation. (Blended 131 Angstrom and 171 Angstrom images of July 19, 2012 flare and CME.)

Sun in Visible and X-Ray Light

S74-23458 (19 Dec. 1973) --- This photograph of the sun, taken on Dec. 19, 1973, during the third and final manned Skylab mission (Skylab 4), shows one of the most spectacular solar flares ever recorded, spanning more than 588,000 kilometers (365,000 miles) across the solar surface. The last picture, taken some 17 hours earlier, showed this feature as a large quiescent prominence on the eastern side of the sun. The flare gives the distinct impression of a twisted sheet of gas in the process of unwinding itself. Skylab photographs such quiescent features erupt from the sun. In this photograph the solar poles are distinguished by a relative absence of supergranulation network, and a much darker tone than the central portions of the disk. Several active regions are seen on the eastern side of the disk. The photograph was taken in the light of ionized helium by the extreme ultraviolet spectroheliograph instrument of the United States Naval Research Laboratory.

Two images of the sun from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), one from the Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) 304 Angstrom instrument (left) and the other a magnetogram, show the relationship of sunspots (seen as both black and white in the magnetogram, as they have both north and south magnetic polarity) and activity in the upper reaches of the Sun, as seen in the EIT image.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory ran together three sequences of the sun taken in three different extreme ultraviolet wavelengths to better illustrate how different features that appear in one sequence are difficult if not impossible to see in the others (Mar. 20-21, 2018). In the red sequence (304 Angstroms), we can see very small spicules and some small prominences at the sun's edge, which are not easy to see in the other two sequences. In the second clip (193 Angstroms), we can readily observe the large and dark coronal hole, though it is difficult to make out in the others. In the third clip (171 wavelengths), we can see strands of plasma waving above the surface, especially above the one small, but bright, active region near the right edge. And these are just three of the 10 extreme ultraviolet wavelengths in which SDO images the sun every 12 seconds every day. That's a lot of data and a lot of science. Movies are available at

Active regions on the sun combined to look something like a jack-o-lanterns face on Oct. 8, 2014. The active regions appear brighter because those are areas that emit more light and energy — markers of an intense and complex set of magnetic fields hovering in the suns atmosphere, the corona. This image blends together two sets of wavelengths at 171 and 193 Angstroms, typically colorized in gold and yellow, to create a particularly Halloween-like appearance.

An active region, just rotating into view on Oct. 4, 2016, gave NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory a perfect view of the tussle of magnetic field lines above it.

A large solar prominence erupts from the Sun in this Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) image, in extreme ultraviolet light emitted by doubly ionized helium at 304 angstroms. The prominence extends 30 Earth diameters from the Sun's surface.

The planet Mercury is seen in silhouette, lower left of image, as it transits across the face of the sun, Monday, May 9, 2016, as viewed from Boyertown, Pennsylvania. Mercury passes between Earth and the sun only about 13 times a century, with the previous transit taking place in 2006.

Artwork of the sun.

This is an image of a solar flare captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. It shows a solar flare in three wavelengths of light: visible, 171 angstroms, and 304 angstroms (an angstrom is roughly the diameter of an atom and it's the measurement we use to define the size of light waves). Each wavelength shows a different temperature of material. Image courtesy of NASA... Photographs Relating to Disasters and Emergency Management Programs, Activities, and Officials

The sun emitted a significant solar flare, peaking at 1 48 p.m. EDT on Sept. 10, 2014. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground. However -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. To see how this event may affect Earth, please visit NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center at a href= http //spaceweather.gov rel= nofollow spaceweather.gov /a , the U.S. government's official source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings. This flare is classified as an X1.6 class flare. "X-class" denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense, etc.

A very long filament (seen as a dark line) stretches from a bright spot on the Sun's right limb, spanning almost the entire width of the Sun, nearly one million miles. That is about four times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. Filaments are twisting masses of cooler ('only' 10,000 - 100,000 degrees Kelvin) gas contained by magnetic fields above the Sun's surface in the midst of the much hotter (~ 1,500,000 K) corona. The Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) 195 Angstrom instrument

The sun emitted a significant solar flare, peaking at 12 22 p.m. EDT on March 11, 2015. NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. This flare is classified as an X2.2-class flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense, etc. This image was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and shows a blend of light from the 171 and 131 Ångström wavelengths. The Earth is shown to scale.

Several times a day for a few days the Earth completely blocked the Sun for about an hour due to NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory's orbital path (Feb. 15, 2017).

Coronal holes appear as dark areas of the corona when viewed in ultraviolet light and in X-rays. Coronal holes are the source of strong solar wind gusts that carry solar particles out to our magnetosphere and beyond. These images are over the span of a week, and are Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), at a wavelength of 284 angstroms.

This composite image combines Extreme Ultravoilet Imaging Telescope (EIT) images from three wavelengths into one that reveals solar features of the Sun unique to each wavelength.

Solar Retrograde Vorticity Waves

A composite of three Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) images from extreme ultraviolet wavelengths: 171 angstroms, blue, filter shows emission from 8 and 9 times ionized iron at about 1 million degrees C, the 195angstroms yellow, filter shows 11 times ionized iron at about 1.5 million degrees C, and the 284 angstroms, red, filter shows 13 times ionized iron at about 2.5 million degrees.

On Mar. 6, 2019, SDO observed a long lunar transit - with a twist. The shadow of the Moon in SDO's images first touched the limb of the Sun at 2200 UTC (5pm EST) on Mar. 6, making its way across and finally left the solar disk at 0209 UTC on Mar. 7 (9 09 pm EST, Mar. 6). The moon's apparent reversal is caused by SDO first overtaking the moon in its orbit, then the moon catching up as SDO swings around Earth's dusk side. During the transit the Sun moves in the frame as the telescopes cool and flex in the lunar shadow. Note that the edge of the Moon is very sharp because it has no atmosphere. Movies available at

This combined image shows the March 29, 2014, X-class flare as seen through the eyes of different observatories. SDO is on the bottom/left, which helps show the position of the flare on the sun. The darker orange square is IRIS data. The red rectangular inset is from Sacramento Peak. The violet spots show the flare's footpoints from RHESSI.--On March 29, 2014 the sun released an X-class flare. It was observed by NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS; NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO; NASA's Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, or RHESSI; the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hinode; and the National Solar Observatory's Dunn Solar Telescope located at Sacramento Peak in New Mexico.To have a record of such an intense flare from so many observatories is unprecedented. Such research can help scientists better understand what catalyst sets off these large explosions on the sun. Perhaps we may even some day be able to predict their onset

A comet with a long tail appears in the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)'s coronagraph instrument, seemingly streaking right towards the Sun. Nearly all of the sungrazers observed by SOHO are members of the same group, the Kreutz group, the remains of a single, parent comet that broke up some centuries ago. The Sun has been superimposed where it would be in the center of the red occulting disk.

An eruption from the surface of the sun is conspicuous in the lower left portion of this July 6, 2015, image from NASA's Earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).

Artwork of white dwarf red dwarf binary

This close-up of the Sun from a two-hour period on Aug. 13, 2018 shows a minor eruption of charged particles rising up and twisting about before falling back into the Sun. Imaged in extreme ultraviolet light, these kinds of events are difficult to see except when they occur along the sun's edge, also known as the limb. At its peak the plasma rises several times the diameter of Earth. Movies are available at

A small prominence hovered above the sun's surface over a two-day period (June 12-14, 2018) before breaking off into space. Prominences are cooler, darker clouds of plasma tethered above the sun by magnetic forces. These clouds of gases are notoriously unstable. The images were taken in the 304 Angstrom wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. Movies are available at

map of Venus constructed by overlaying three Magellan mosaics

The Sun erupted with an X8 solar flare, one of the largest of the current solar cycle (Sept. 10, 2017). Its source was the same sunspot region that produced an X9 flare last week. This is shown in two wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light at the same time and each reveals different features. Both are colorized to identify in which wavelength they were observed. The coils of loops after the flare are the magnetic field lines reorganizing themselves after the eruption. The video clip covers about six hours. Movies are available at

A sunspot which lasted an usually long time, from December 2006 (left) to February 2007 (right). Earlier it was the site of a strong solar flare.

our sun in space An illustration of our sun in space Copyright: xZoonar.com/magannx 15914677

The Sun had in early September 2001 developed a good number of sunspots. These are somewhat cooler than the rest of the Sun's surface so they appear darker in the visible light image (right). Sunspots are also the visible traces of magnetically active regions seen in the ultraviolet image (left) taken at about the same time.

View of the Eclipse of the Sun at 5:35, 7/20/63

detailed sun in space An image of a detailed sun in space Copyright: xZoonar.com/magannx 5484119

A bright and expansive coronal mass ejection (CME) unfurled itself over about an eight-hour period. As seen in Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)'s LASCO C2 coronagraph, the bright front emerged in the shape of an arc from behind the occulting disk but soon expanded into a ragged, bulbous shape with lots of structural lines inside it. (The Sun is represented by the white circle in the center of the red occulting disk.)

Two images taken exactly eleven years apart (December 27 - 1996 left, 2007 right), both taken by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)'s Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) 195 Angstrom instrument. At both times the Sun was near its minimum level of activity.

The three images spanning five years represent roughly the top half of the average 11-year long solar cycle. The first one, from April 1998, catches the Sun about mid-way between minimum activity and maximum activity. The second shows the Sun not long after its maximum level in 2001. Note that it has more and larger active regions (brighter areas). The last, from July 2003, shows the Sun about halfway back down the cycle again, appearing rather similar to the first image's moderate level of acti

The Sun blows a robust prominence out into space (Dec. 10, 2102). The outer image, from the STEREO-A's COR1 coronagraph, has been changed from green to red to complement the green Sun image, taken in extreme UV light. The movie covers six hours of activity. Kind of Christmassy looking, isn't it Some of the prominence falls back towards the sun, although the disturbance as a whole continues out into the solar system.

Seine et Marne. October 13, 2018, passage of the International Space Station in front of the Sun, from the Seine and Marne. The station is then more than 700 km away.

2d illustration of a red sun in space

Transits of Mercury, Mercury Transit in Front of the Sun

Solar activity, illustration

The planet Mercury is seen in silhouette, lower left, as it transits across the face of the sun Monday, May 9, 2016, as viewed from Boyertown, Pennsylvania. Mercury passes between Earth and the sun only about 13 times a century, with the previous transit taking place in 2006.

A merger of SOHO LASACO C2 data observed at 12 42 pm and C3 observed at 12 37 pm on November 28, 2013.

This still image from an animation from NASA GSFC's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows a large group of sunspots that rotated across the Sun over six days (Aug. 21-26, 2015).

A composite image of the May 9, 2016 transit of Mercury across the Sun, with Mercury at a perfect inferior conjunction” between the Sun and Earth. Transits happen only rarely, about 13 per century. The next is November 11, 2019. Then in 2032.From my location in Kamloops, British Columbia the early stages of the transit were not visible (the transit was in progress at sunrise) and for the first hour or so after sunrise clouds close to the horizon prevented me from starting a consistent sequenc

Telephoto view of sun as Venus transits between earth and sun, rendered as a small dot on the disk of the sun

A distant planet engulfed in a blazing inferno

Transit of Venus as seen from the Cupola Module.

ISS031-E-089012 (5 June 2012) --- Transit of Venus across the sun observed from the International Space Station on June 5, 2012. Observations of the transit of Venus during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries allowed scientists to calculate the distance between Earth and the sun, as well as providing insight into the existence of Venus atmosphere. Since the previous pair of transits of Venus occurred in 1874 and 1882, humanity developed the ability to view the phenomena from space - both directly from low Earth orbit, and remotely from sensors on spacecraft collecting scientific data about the sun. NASA astronaut Don Pettit, Expedition 31 flight engineer, was particularly keen to take imagery of the event from the orbital perspective - even bringing a solar camera filter aboard for the event. This image, taken during the first half of the 2012 transit, is one of hundreds of the event taken from the space station Cupola, a windowed module that provides the crew unparalleled views of both

In a major processing effort, a new 'wavelet' processing has been applied to virtually all of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)'s Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) 195 Angstrom images. The original files have been processed using an algorithm that allows the visualization of much sharper features than those in the raw images. The results are striking, revealing structures that have never been seen before in the originals.

JupiterS Moon, Io. Erupting Volcano

Breast cancer seen on a mammogram.

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