Credit & Copyright: Jordi Coy
Explanation:
Is this giant orange ball about to roll down that tree-lined hill?
No, because the giant orange ball is actually
the Sun.
Our Solar System's
central star
was captured rising beyond a hill on Earth
twelve days ago complete with a delightfully detailed foreground.
The Sun's disk showed
five sunspots, quite a lot considering that during the
solar minimum in solar activity of the past few years, most days showed
no spots.
A close look at the hill --
Sierra del
Cid in Perter,
Spain -- reveals not only silhouetted
pine trees, but silhouetted people --
by
coincidence three brothers of the photographer.
The trees and brothers were about 3.5-kilometers away
during the morning of the well-planned,
single-exposure image.
A dark filter muted the usually
brilliant Sun
and brought up great detail on the lower
sunspots.
Within a few minutes,
the Sun rose far above the hill, while within a week,
the sunspots rotated
around the Sun, out of view.
The captured scene, however, is now
frozen in time for all to enjoy.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Sun - sunspot
Publications with words: Sun - sunspot
See also:
- APOD: 2024 February 19 Á Looking Sideways from the Parker Solar Probe
- Circling the Sun
- APOD: 2023 December 11 Á Solar Minimum versus Solar Maximum
- APOD: 2023 November 19 Á Space Station, Solar Prominences, Sun
- APOD: 2023 October 25 Á Gone in 60 Seconds: A Green Flash Sunset
- Circular Sun Halo
- APOD: 2023 August 1 Á Monster Solar Prominence