The Sun is a glowing ball of hydrogen and helium that is located at the center of the Solar System. According to NASA, it is a 4.5 billion-year-old star that is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) away from Earth. Also, it is the largest object in the Solar System that can fit 1.3 million Earths.
Scientists often record solar activity, which are powerful eruptions of a steady stream of charged particles, that may affect the nature of space in the Solar System. NASA and other space agencies have sent missions to take photos or videos and observe the solar activity. But now, astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy has created an incredibly detailed photo of the Sun that is unlike no other.
Fire and Fusion: Incredible 300-Megapixel Image of the Sun is Made Up of 150,000 Individual Photos
Fire and Fusion
McCarthy shared on his Twitter account the 300-megapixel image of the Sun that he took on November 29, 2021, from his backyard in Arizona. Science Alert reported that McCarthy used a specially modified telescope that captured more than 150,000 individual photos that he combined to come up with the incredibly detailed photo of the Sun.
He said that he spent 10 hours stacking all the data and another three to four hours to get it from a raw stack and finish the final image. McCarthy used the Explore Scientific AR127 telescope that he modified and applied a quick capture technique to take all those individual images that are each one 2.1 megapixel and 16-bit image.
He noted that the filters and processing showed what is happening in the Sun's chromosphere and how it looks like. The chromosphere is the second-most outer layer of the Solar System's star.
McCarthy called his creation the "Fire and Fusion" and said on his website that it highlights the chaotic surface of the Sun with all its writhing planet-sized streams that came from the surface and dwarfed by the looming prominence of filaments. He noted that the blinding bursts of energy seen in the image are from the heightened magnetic activity that pushes and pulls the surface of the Sun to create fascinating patterns in the atmosphere.
Partially Inverted Image of the Sun
Universe Today reported that McCarthy explained on his Twitter post that the image appears bright at the edge and darker at the inner part because it is partially inverted.
He said that the type of filtration that he used made the atmosphere look as if it was blocking the sunlight, which resulted in it getting darker towards its edges and making the limb features harder to spot. McCarthy clarified that the filter is imperative for any type of image of the Sun.
On the other hand, he does not recommend attempting to point the telescope directly to the Sun unless it is done by a professional. He pointed out that some people went blind from attempting to directly view the Sun through a telescope. Lastly, he said that the telescope he used is designed to purge the intense heat from the Sun and only precisely show a specific band of light to capture the details of the Sun's chromosphere.
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