NASA Reveals Astounding Photo Of The Sun Shrouded In Darkness

NASA has shared a stunning and unique image of the Sun, giving the public a look at our star in a mostly dark way. The contrast makes the Sun's active regions look bright and clear, providing a look at the star in a way we wouldn't be able to see otherwise. The image was generated using data captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

NASA published the photo late last week, showing off the Sun with a 'jack-o-lantern' appearance in time for Halloween. The image didn't get quite as much attention as the 'Greater Pumpkin' galaxies the space agency showed off around the same time, the photo of which likewise shows a pumpkin-like celestial landscape.

The new image was created using 193 and 171 angstroms, which are two different wavelengths that are often depicted in yellow and gold hues. The result is a dim sun emphasizing firey active regions resembling something like swirling plumes of golden light.

According to NASA, the Sun's active regions look brighter than the rest because they're emitting more energy and light, ultimately pointing toward the 'intense and complex set of magnetic fields' in the Sun's corona, according to NASA.

NASA often creates images by combining data or a number of images, forming a composite that is then post-processed to add color and other relevant details. In some cases, the colors are representative of different aspects of the data, helping viewers visualize something we wouldn't otherwise be able to see with the naked eye.

A high-resolution version of the Sun image can be found on NASA's website here.