The great astrophotographer Andre van der Hoeven sent me a shot he took of the Sun a few days ago. Looks like either Barney or the Grape Nehi folks paid it a visit:

[Click to envioletenate.]

Pretty cool. First, of course, the purple color is not real. Its just the color Andre chose for this picture when he processed it. Second, he used an H filter, which lets through a very narrow slice of light (actually in the red part of the spectrum). This color is emitted by warm hydrogen, and is preferentially under the influence of the Suns magnetism. You can see arching prominences huge towers of gas off the edge of the Sun. The long stringy bits on the face of the Sun are called filaments, and are actually the exact same thing as prominences! Prominences are filaments we see from the side, instead of looking down on them. The terminology is a holdover from when astronomers first started observing the Sun, and were kinda stuck with it.

Also, Andre inverted the picture, so what looks black is actually very bright, and what looks bright is very dark. Those bright white blotches? Sunspots. For some reason, our brains can pick out detail better that way, and it also gives an eerie 3D sense to the image. He made a close-up mosaic of his pictures, too, which is actually a bit creepy. Itll keep the Halloween spirit going for another day, at least!

Image credit: Andre van der Hoeven, used by permission.

Related Posts:

- Jaw-dropping Moon mosaic (yes, you want to click that) - Zoom in and in and IN on an Austrian glacier - Incredible panorama of the summer sky - A spiral that can beat you with two arms tied behind its back

The rest is here:

Purple shag Sun | Bad Astronomy