thesun

These are the Highest Resolution Images Ever Taken of the Sun’s Surface

The National Solar Observatory has just released the highest resolution images and video ever taken of the sun's surface. The images, captured with the National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, capture the sun in unprecedented detail, revealing features as small as 18 miles (30km) in size for the first time ever.

This Image Shows Every Color of Visible Light Emitted by the Sun

If you paid attention in high-school physics, you know that white light contains within it the rainbow of colors of the visible light spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet (and if you're Isaac Newton you throw Indigo in there for good measure).

NASA Rocket-Mounted Telescope Snaps Clearest Ever Photos of the Sun’s Corona

Many of the photos we get back from space come either via powerful telescopes in orbit or talented astronauts in the ISS. Another way to explore the cosmos in pictures, however, is to mount a high-powered telescope to a sub-orbital rocket, and fire away. During the trip, the telescope is allotted about 10 minutes to get the photos it's looking for. And lest you think 10 minutes isn't enough, a couple of weeks ago NASA used this exact method to capture the clearest ever images of the Sun's corona.