An Active Prominence on the Sun
18.06.2018

Sometimes the Sun's surface becomes a whirlwind of activity. Pictured is a time-lapse video of the Sun's surface taken over a two hour period in early May, run both forwards and backwards. The Sun's surface was blocked out so that details over the edge could be imaged in greater detail.

An Active Region of the Sun
16.06.1998

The Sun is a busy place. This false-color image depicts an active region near an edge of the Sun. Hot plasma is seen exploding off the Sun's photosphere and traveling along loops defined by the Sun's magnetic field.

Autumn and the Active Sun
23.09.1998

As the Sun heads South, crossing the celestial equator today at 1:37 a.m. Eastern Time, Autumn begins for Earth's Northern Hemisphere. This Autumnal Equinox finds an increasingly active Sun steadily approaching a solar cycle maximum expected around the year 2003.

A Large Active Region Crosses the Sun
26.07.2004

An unexpectedly large sunspot region is now crossing the Sun. The active region is home to rivers of hot plasma, explosive flares, strong magnetic fields, a powerful Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), and a sunspot group so large it can be seen by the protected eye without magnification.

Leaning Tower, Active Sun
1.04.2022

The natural filter of a hazy atmosphere offered this recognizable architecture and sunset view on March 27. Dark against the solar disk, large sunspots in solar active regions 2975 and 2976 are wedged between the Duomo of Pisa and its famous Leaning Tower.

Movie: The Active Sun
4.12.2006

Plumes of hot gas shoot across the surface on even an average day on the Sun. Such volatile activity was captured in dramatic detail recently by the new Hinode satellite launched by Japan in late September.

Prominences and Filaments on the Active Sun
15.06.2024

This colorized and sharpened image of the Sun is composed of frames recording emission from hydrogen atoms in the solar chromosphere on May 15. Approaching the maximum of solar cycle 25, a multitude of active regions and twisting, snake-like solar filaments are seen to sprawl across the surface of the active Sun.

Active Prominences on a Quiet Sun
20.08.2018

Why is the Sun so quiet? As the Sun enters into a period of time known as a Solar Minimum, it is, as expected, showing fewer sunspots and active regions than usual. The quietness is somewhat unsettling, though, as so far this year, most days show no sunspots at all.

A Partial Eclipse of an Active Sun
2.11.2022

Watch for three things in this unusual eclipse video. First, watch for a big dark circle to approach from the right to block out more and more of the Sun. This dark circle is the Moon, and the video was made primarily to capture this partial solar eclipse last week.

APOD: 2026 February 8 Б Active Sunspot Region 4366 Crosses the Sun
8.02.2026

An unusually active sunspot region is now crossing the Sun. The region, labelled AR 4366, is much larger than the Earth and has produced several powerful solar flares over the past ten days. In the featured image, the region is marked by large and dark sunspots toward the upper right of the Sun's disk.