Solar Corona - Eclipse and UV Images

Sun's corona - during eclipse (left) and UV image (right)

NCAR HAO (eclipse image) and NASA SDO (UV image)

These two images show the solar corona, the Sun's upper atmosphere. The image on the left was captured during a total solar eclipse on February 26, 1998, as seen from Curaçao in the Netherlands Antilles. The light in the eclipse image is from the visible light region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The image on the right was taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite. It shows the corona as it appears in ultraviolet (UV) "light". The UV image was captured on May 18, 2016. There is a large coronal hole, the dark area on the top part of the Sun, in this image.