An Active Sun During a Total Eclipse
			
		
		
			Image Credit & Copyright:  
D. Seaton (ROB),  
A. Davis & J. M. Pasachoff 
(Williams College Eclipse Expedition),
NRL, 
ESA, 
NASA, NatGeo
		
		
			Sometimes, a total eclipse of the Sun is an opportunity.
Taking advantage of such, the above image shows the 
solar eclipse earlier this month 
as covered and uncovered by several different solar observatories.
The innermost image shows the Sun in 
ultraviolet light as recorded over a few hours by the 
SWAP instrument aboard the 
PROBA2 mission in a 
sun-synchronous low Earth orbit.
This image is surrounded by a ground-based eclipse image, reproduced
in blue,  taken from 
Gabon.
Further out is a circularly blocked region used to artificially dim the central sun by the 
LASCO instrument aboard the Sun-orbiting 
SOHO spacecraft.
The outermost image -- showing the outflowing 
solar corona -- was taken by LASCO ten minutes after the eclipse and shows an outflowing solar corona.
Over the past few weeks, our Sun has been showing an 
unusually high 
amount of 
sunspots, 
CMEs, and 
flares -- activity that was generally expected as the Sun is currently going through 
Solar Maximum -- the busiest part of its 11 year 
solar cycle.
The above resultant image is a picturesque montage of many solar layers at once that allows 
solar astronomers to better match up active areas on or near the Sun's surface with 
outflowing jets in the Sun's corona.