Two Views of a Sunspot Group - April 24, 2013

These images of the Sun were taken at the Phoebe Waterman Haas Public Observatory at 12:00 pm on April 24, 2013.

The red image shows the atmosphere of the Sun. The view is dominated by one large sunspot group, AR 1726. This large and complex sunspot group was a dozen times wider than the Earth. It had the potential to produce strong flares, but it did not while it rotated across the Earth-facing side of the Sun.

In this view, dark sunspots are partially obscured by bright clouds of gas called plages, which are suspended above the sunspot region by strong magnetic activity.

The inset image is a view of the surface of the Sun around the same sunspot group. This offers a detailed view of the sunspots, including the light gray area, called a penumbra, which surrounds the largest sunspots.

Telescope: Lunt 100mm hydrogen-alpha

Camera: Lumenera SKYnyx 2-2M