Backyard Astronomer Nabs Stupendous Sun Photo
Winter doldrums getting you down? Let this amazing photo of the sun brighten your day. The smoky puff on the...

Winter doldrums getting you down? Let this amazing photo of the sun brighten your day. The smoky puff on the left is a remnant of a solar flare that erupted from the sunspot below.
Astrophotographer Alan Friedman captured this shot at a star party in the Florida Keys last week, using a fairly small amateur telescope. His website has a whole collection of space snapshots and more boiling sun photos like this one. Click through to Bad Astronomy for a nice description of how it was done.
See the two sunspots beneath the puff? The little one, to the right, is twice the size of Earth.