Sun - February 22, 2012

This image of the Sun was taken on February 22, 2012 at 2:16 pm using a hydrogen-alpha image to show details of the chromosphere.

The highlight of this image is sunspot 1422, located toward the righthand side of the Sun. It has grown dramatically in size over the past few days, as seen by the Solar Dynamics Observatory. There is a very dark filament located on the bottom right of the Sun. A filament is a loop of gas reaching above the surface of the Sun. The filament looks darker than the rest of the Sun because it has a cooler temperature than the underlying gas.

Telescope/filter: Lunt 100mm Hydrogen-alpha telescope

Camera: Lumenera SKYnyx 2-2M