This X-ray picture was taken by the spacestation Skylab. It shows a dark hole in the sun´s corona from which the solar wind consisting mainly of electrons and protons escapes through the sun´s magnetic fields.

A X-ray shot of the sun taken by the satellite Yohkoh.

This photo shows enormous flares  caused by the sun´s magnetic fields. It was taken by the NASA probe Trace.

The sun seen through a special hydrogen alpha filter which isolates a part of the visible light. The bright big dot on the right sight is on of the mightiest flares ever. It startet on 7th August 1972 and caused world wide massive failures in electricity supply and news transmission.

This picture shows the developtment of a solar eruption called flare. It happened on 18th August 1980 from 08:03 h and 12:10 am. Some eruptions last for weeks or even months.
(If you don´t want to see the eruption as animated gif with a size of 159 KB, click here to get a simple jpg.)

Few sunspots at the beginning of a cycle. The amount of sunspots increases and decreases during a cycle of 11 years. They are areas of great magnetic activity and about 2000° C colder than their environment. The gas around reaches temperatures about 6000° C.

This picture was taken 5 years and few months later. The activity has reached its maximum.

A detail shot of one single sunspot. The dots around the core are called granules, they cover the sun´s surface. The diameter of this spot here is two times the diameter of earth and it is ten times brighter than the moon.