Image	Brief Description
	On August 27th twisting magnetic fields propelled this huge eruptive prominence a hundred thousand miles above the Sun's surface. The Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) onboard the space-based SOHO observatory recorded this exquisitely detailed image in the light of ionized Helium atoms from its vantage point in a Halo orbit. (Courtesy SOHO-EIT Consortium, ESA, NASA)
	This is an image of the Sun as seen in H-Alpha. H-Alpha is a narrow wavelength of red light that is emitted and absorbed by the element hydrogen. (Courtesy National Solar Observatory/Sacramento Peak)
	This image was acquired from NASA's Skylab space station on December 19, 1973. It shows one of the most spectacular solar flares ever recorded, propelled by magnetic forces, lifting off from the Sun. It spans more than 588,000 km (365,000 miles) of the solar surface. In this photograph, the solar poles are distinguished by a relative absence of supergranulation network, and a much darker tone than the central portions of the disk.
	Sunspots are "cool" regions, only 3800 K (they look dark only by comparison with the surrounding regions). Sunspots can be very large, as much as 50,000 km in diameter. Sunspots are caused by complicated and not very well understood interactions with the Sun's magnetic field.
	This is an X-ray image of the Sun obtained on February 21, 1994. The brighter regions are sources of increased X-ray emissions. (Courtesy: Calvin J. Hamilton and Yohkoh)
	"Plumes" of outward flowing, hot gas in the Sun's atmosphere may be one source of the solar "wind" of charged particles. These images, taken March 7, 1996, by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), show (top) magnetic fields on the sun's surface near the south solar pole; (middle) an ultraviolet image of the 1 million degree plumes from the same region; and (bottom) an ultraviolet image of the "quiet" solar atmosphere closer to the surface.

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Last Updated: 9/02/97