Dazzlingly detailed photo of a record solar tornado ’14 Earths tall’

Never has the sun been seen like this.This dazzlingly detailed shot of our star was made recently in the aftermath of a record-breaking solar tornado that was stirring up the sun’s atmosphere. Fusion of Helios (pictured above), is the result of a laborious five-day collaboration between astrophotographers Jason Genzel and Andrew McCarthy, who are “always looking for fresh and creative ways to present the cosmic landscape.” says Gensel.

On March 14th, a spinning magnetic field stirred plasma on the surface of the Sun, creating a “tornado” at the North Pole. This, according to McCarthy, has grown into a protruding filament “fourteen times her height on Earth” or 178,000 kilometers. This is the tallest solar tornado ever recorded (pictured above). The blistering event lasted for three days before exploding into a cloud of plasma that was ejected into space.

The pair includes more than 90,000 individual photographs of the Sun taken with high-speed cameras by McCarthy during this colossal event, as well as a photograph of the outer layer of the Sun, or corona, as seen during a total solar eclipse taken by Genzel in 2017. combined. Genzel has said that this is the “most detailed and dynamic” image of the Sun he and McCarthy have ever made, and an “astonishing” result. The image above is a closer up of the main image.

“Sun photography requires discipline, perseverance, and even luck,” Genzel says. “By combining our talents, we were able to combine art and science to create a stunning and unique composite view of the Sun.”

Photographers Jason Genzel and Andrew McCarthy