New photos show gigantic spots on surface of the sun - 93 million miles away

25 February 2024 , 21:06

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Stunning photos of the sun show rare patches on its surface (Image: Simon Woodley / SWNS)

A photographer has captured an image of gigantic, rare spots on the sun - all the way from a beach in Sunderland.

The stunning photos show rare, huge spots on the sun's surface, which is over 93 million miles away, and can be seen with the naked eye. These massive sunspots are areas where the surface temperature is lower, caused by high concentrations of magnetic field rising to the sun's surface.

The pictures were taken by photographer Simon Woodley while he was on a beach in the north east city. They show the giant sunspot region AR3590 and, although they look like small blots on the sun's giant surface, these spots are actually eight times bigger than the earth.

The number of these spots changes depending on the 11-year solar cycle. But the sun is expected to reach peak activity in the coming months, with lots of spots expected to be visible. Mr Woodley is not the only person to snap some impressive images of the great beyond as a stargazer bagged some exceptional photos of the solar system with a telescope he bought from Aldi.

Stephen McAllister captured the amazing shots of the solar systems millions of light years away after picking up the "really good piece of kit". He said: "I phoned friends and told them to get down to Aldi. Four or five buddies went down that afternoon and cleared them out. It’s been quite overwhelming that you can be living on a council estate and be capturing these images from your back garden."

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The impressive snaps were captured on a beach in Sunderland (Simon Woodley / SWNS)

Stephen would livestream the planetary observations during the Covid lockdown and said there was an "awful lot" the kit could do without too much being spent on it. Mr McCallister added: "There’s a lot of learning involved and be prepared to spend time in the cold."

Bits and pieces from beyond the stars were seen hurtling towards the Earth too, with a recent "bluey-green colour" seen by a father and son duo. The pair spoke out on the mysterious object which they viewed outside Kilmarnock town centre earlier this week.

Stuart Armour said: "I saw it too but I didn't know what it was. So we went home and had a look at the dashcam footage and I didn't think it would show, but I was surprised to see that it did. It was something about five or six stories high, and it was a bluey-green colour. It was a bit of a weird one."

Ewan Gleadow