You are looking at a photo. Andrew McCarthy used a modified telescope to take 150,000 photos and combine them into a magnificent image.
McCarthy said it took about 10 hours to stack all the data and another 3-4 hours to get it from a raw stack to the final image.
McCarthy used a quick capture technique to take all the images, each of which had a 2.1 inch 16bit image. The Sun's second most outer layer can be seen in the filters and processing.
McCarthy took pictures from his backyard in Arizona.
The image shows the chaotic nature of the Sun. McCarthy writes on his website that the ball of plasma has streams that areplanet-sized and are dwarfed by prominences. There are areas of heightened magnetic activity that push and pull on the solar surface and create fascinating patterns in the atmosphere.
McCarthy explained that this is a partially inverted image which explains why the edge is bright while the inner part is dark.
The atmosphere blocks sunlight, so it gets darker towards the edges. The processing method is used because limb features are harder to see.
McCarthy says a filter is necessary for any type of views.
He said that unless you know what you're doing, you shouldn't attempt this sort of thing. People have lost their sight trying to view the Sun through a telescope. It is designed to purge the intense heat generated from the Sun and only show a specific band of light to allow for the details of the solar chromoosphere to come through.
McCarthy has images for download and prints for sale on his website, and you can see more of his work on social media.
The lead image caption is a 300dpi photo of our Sun taken with a specially modified telescope. Andrew McCarthy has a credit and a copyright.
