Our Sun Today

There was a giant sunspot on the Sun today.  Larger than the earth.  So I looked at the sun with my special filter and it looked like this.  But I have a special telescope for looking at the Sun called a hydrogen alpha telescope.  It has a very complex, very sophisticated filter built into it, and it shows amazing details on the surface.  Here is the view with that telescope, in the red color that it shows.

It is easier to see the detail if I convert this image to black and white.

And then if I make the photograph lighter when I photograph through the Hydrogen alpha filter I can see the prominences on the edge of the Sun.  I have filled in the center of the Sun's disk with a gray color so that the prominences will be more obvious all around the outer edge of the Sun's disk.  What amazing things to see!