Sun Image | Universe Today

Written by Fraser Cain

Are you looking for a Sun image? Maybe something that you can put on your desktop. Here are a few really nice Sun images that we've been able to pull together from across the Internet.

The ISS and Endeavour transitting the sun. Credit: Thierry Legault

Here's an amazing image of the International Space Station and the space shuttle Endeavour transiting in front of the Sun. This photograph was captured by photographer Thierry Legault. You've got to understand how hard this photograph was to take, since Thierry had to be in exactly the right place at the right time to get these two lined up, and have the right equipment to take the picture. It's an amazing Sun image.

The sunspot cycle from 1995 to the present. The jagged curve traces actual sunspot counts. Smooth curves are fits to the data and one forecaster's predictions of future activity. Credit: David Hathaway, NASA/MSFC

Here's an image of the Sun that shows the Sun in the background, and then a graph with the annual sunspot cycles. The number of sunspots on the Sun rises and falls over a cycle of 11-years. The next sunspot cycle is expected to peak in 2012.

Picture of the Sun in 3-D. Image credit: NASA

You're going to need some 3-D glasses to make out all the detail in this image of the Sun. The photograph was captured by NASA's STEREO spacecraft, which are orbiting the Sun at two different locations. Their separate images are put together to make a single 3-D image of the Sun.

Ultraviolet view of the Sun. Image credit: SOHO

Here's an ultraviolet image of the Sun captured by NASA/ESA's SOHO spacecraft. It's the Sun's ultraviolet radiation that gives us sunburns, fortunately, we're protected by the Earth's ozone layer.

Sun with a huge coronal mass ejection. Image credit: NASA

Here's an image of the Sun with a huge coronal mass ejection. These can be millions of kilometers long, containing several times the mass of the Earth. They erupt of out of sunspots and particles from them can even reach the Earth, creating the beautiful auroras that we see.

Filed under: Astronomy