Jack-o-Lantern Sun
Credit: NASA/SDO
Active
regions on the sun combined to look something like a jack-o-lantern’s
face on Oct. 8, 2014. The image was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics
Observatory, or SDO, which watches the sun at all times from its orbit
in space.
The active regions in this image appear brighter because those are
areas that emit more light and energy. They are markers of an intense
and complex set of magnetic fields hovering in the sun’s atmosphere, the
corona. This image blends together two sets of extreme ultraviolet
wavelengths at 171 and 193 Ångströms, typically colorized in gold and
yellow, to create a particularly Halloween-like appearance.
