By Eddie Wrenn <\/p>\n
PUBLISHED: 12:28 EST, 22 June 2012 | UPDATED: 13:27 EST, 22 June 2012 <\/p>\n
It is difficult to think of the sun as anything more than how we view it from Earth - a great, bright ball, uniform in appearance as it placidly heats our planet. <\/p>\n
But seen in close-up, the view is startling - a raging sea of fire, as the hydrogen fuel of the sun burns away in a five-billion-year explosion. <\/p>\n
The artistic, and out-of-this-world photographs were taken by sun enthusiast and solar photographer Alan Freidman, from the Mount Wilson Observatory near Los Angeles, California. <\/p>\n
The sun the day before: Alan set up his solar equipment at Mount Wilson the day before the Transit of Venus and ran a test to make sure that everything had survived the trip and was working well <\/p>\n
The detail captured by Alan is stunning: Far from being the placid, uniform ball we see each day, the sun is a raging and turbulent ball of flames <\/p>\n
Alan, described as a 'master of solar photography' by Discovery News, took this first image a day before the transit of Venus earlier this month. <\/p>\n
He was preparing his equipment in advance of the transit, and his practice runs led to these stunning images. <\/p>\n
What we see here are the mingling of the upper layers of the sun - known as the photosphere and chromosphere. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Read more here: <\/p>\n
The swirling maelstrom of the sun, pictured in outstanding detail during the Transit of Venus by one dedicated space ...<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Eddie Wrenn PUBLISHED: 12:28 EST, 22 June 2012 | UPDATED: 13:27 EST, 22 June 2012 It is difficult to think of the sun as anything more than how we view it from Earth - a great, bright ball, uniform in appearance as it placidly heats our planet. But seen in close-up, the view is startling - a raging sea of fire, as the hydrogen fuel of the sun burns away in a five-billion-year explosion Continue reading