Astrophoto: The Sun as a Work of Art

By Nancy Atkinson - September 11, 2014 at 1:05 PM UTC | Solar Astronomy
A-Flare-with-Flair.jpg

Here's

a solar flare

with a little

flair

added! Astrophotographer Rick Ellis from Toronto, Canada created this "artsy" Sun by using a series of photoshop filters and effects with a combination of two images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory

taken on April 12, 2013.

He tinkered with the contrast at specific color ranges, applied "equalization," and used a filter called "accented edges."

"Then I posterized it and ran it through the "posterize edges" filter which really brings out many details," Rick said via email.

Rick admitted to some confusion about the difference between solar flares and coronal mass ejections, and so we figured this might be a good time to explain. They do have several similarities, however: both solar flares and CMEs are energetic events on the Sun that are both associated with high energy particles, and they both depend on magnetic fields on the Sun.

In the case of a CME, coronal material is ejected into space at high speeds. According to

Berkeley University

the most obvious difference between a solar flare and a CME is the spatial scale on which they occur.

"Flares are local events as compared to CMEs which are much larger eruptions of the corona," says the

Berkeley webpage

, and sometimes a CME can be larger than the Sun itself. Solar flares and coronal mass ejections often occur together, but each can also take place in the absence of the other.

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com