Forget about the man on the moon, you need to see this face on the sun! Just in time for Halloween, this amazing NASA photo shows the sun looking just like a Jack-O-Lantern.
The photo was taken on Oct. 8 by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which is always watching the sun from its orbit in space. Apparently the Jack-O-Lantern appearance on the sun’s surface is the result of active regions combining.
“The active regions appear brighter because those are areas that emit more light and energy—markers of an intense and complex set of magnetic fields hovering in the sun’s atmosphere, the corona,” NASA explained on its website. “This image blends together two sets of wavelengths at 171 and 193 Ångströms, typically colorized in gold and yellow, to create a particularly Halloween-like appearance.”
While this blending of Halloween colors is fascinating, NASA also shared other images of the sun in a variety of hues that are just as breathtaking.
The sun as imaged by the Solar Dynamics Observatory on Oct. 8, 2014, in 335 ångström extreme ultraviolet light.
The sun as imaged by the Solar Dynamics Observatory on Oct. 8, 2014, in 193 ångström extreme ultraviolet light.
The sun as imaged by the Solar Dynamics Observatory on Oct. 8, 2014, in 171 ångström extreme ultraviolet light.
The sun as imaged by the Solar Dynamics Observatory on Oct. 8, 2014, in 304 ångström extreme ultraviolet light.
H/T ABC News | Photos by NASA/GSFC/SDO
