Astronomy Magazine – Your source for the latest news on astronomy, observing events, space missions, and more.

Picture of the Day

See all photos

A stormy Sun

Marco Meniero, from Civitavecchia, Rome, Italy

The full enormity of sunspot group AR 3664 (at the bottom of the Sun’s disk in this image) is apparent in this shot taken with a Nikon Z9 mirrorless camera and 400mm lens at ISO 32. The shot is a composite, one exposed for the solar disk (1/32,000 of a second at f/32) and one for the landscape (1/4,000 of a second and f/9). AR 3664 is roughly 16 times the size of Earth and is responsible for this weekend’s geomagnetic storm.

May 2024 cover of Astronomy magazine

May 2024