The Sun - July 21, 2013

This image of the Sun was taken at the Phoebe Waterman Haas Public Observatory on July 21, 2013 at 11:07 am.

The bright loops around the edge of the image are called prominences; they are magnetic loops that extend into the atmosphere of the Sun. The dark lines seen throughout the disk are also magnetic loops; when seen on the disk they are called filaments. Two sunspot groups on the disk are each surrounded by brighter areas called plages. These bright cloud-like features tend to form above sunspots.

The same features can be seen on the image of the Sun from the previous day.

Telescope: Lunt 100mm hydrogen-alpha

Camera: Lumenera SKYnyx 2-2M