Awesome Astrophotos: A Negative Sun

By Nancy Atkinson - July 24, 2011 at 6:21 PM UTC | Solar Astronomy
negative-sun.jpg

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Here's an unusual if not stunning way to look at the Sun: César Cantu from the

Chilidog Observatory

in Mexico has taken a few images of the Sun, and reversed the colors, or made a negative. This increases the contrast and allows structures to be seen -- or at least stand out -- that otherwise are not visible.

"The picture is made under normal procedure," César tells us. He creates an Avi file, then reverses the colors, and also applies false color, leaving the sky to look blue and the Sun to yellow-orange and the chromosphere as red. "This is to delight the author!" César says.

The solar prominences, in all sorts of shapes and sizes, really stand out.

Below, you can see a comparison of "normal" image which has then been "negativised."

[caption id="attachment_87713" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="A comparison between a regular and 'negative' image of the Sun. Cesar Cantu from Monterrey, Mexico, and the Chilidog Observatory. Click for high resolution version"]

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Thanks to César for sharing his stunning images. See more at his website,

Astronomía Y Astrofotografía.

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