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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.

Sunspot 875 Flares

Explanation: An unusually active sunspot region is now crossing the Sun. The region , numbered 875, is larger than the Earth and has produced several solar flare s over the past week. It should take a few more days for Sunspot 875 to finish crossing the solar disk. The above image of the Sun was taken last Wednesday in a very specific color of red light to bring up detail. Sunspot 875 , in the midst of erupting a large Class C solar flare , can be seen as the dark region to the upper right. In the above image , relatively cool region s appear dark while hot regions appear bright. On the far left, solar prominence s are visible hovering above the Sun's surface.

Date May 2, 2006
Credit Credit & Copyright: Greg Piepol (sungazer.net)
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.