NASA shares image of fiery jack-o'-lantern sun

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NASA shares image of fiery jack-o'-lantern sun

Published Monday, October 28, 2019 9:35AM EDT Last Updated Monday, October 28, 2019 10:08AM EDT

NASA imaging shows active regions on the sun combined to look like a jack-o-lantern on Oct. 8, 2014. (Goddard Space Flight Center)

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NASA is getting in the Halloween spirit by sharing a striking image of the sun that looks a lot like a flaming jack-o鈥�-lantern.

The Goddard Space Flight Center re-shared the Sunday that shows fiery 鈥渁ctive regions鈥� on the sun that resemble two eyes, a nose and a mouth.

鈥淓ven our star celebrates the spooky season,鈥� the social media accounts wrote over the weekend.

It's ! 鈽€锔� Even our star celebrates the spooky season 鈥� in 2014, active regions on the Sun created this jack-o'-lantern face, as seen in ultraviolet light by our Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite. �� Download in high resolution:
鈥� NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun)

The agency鈥檚 Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) took a series of images five years ago on Oct. 8 at varying wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light and combined two of them, gold and yellow, to produce the orange pumpkin-like result.

鈥淭he active regions appear brighter because those are areas that emit more light and energy -- markers of an intense and complex set of magnetic fields hovering in the sun鈥檚 atmosphere, the corona,鈥� the NASA wrote online in 2014.

RELATED IMAGES

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This imaging shows the sun in 193 angstrom light as captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, one of two images used to create the jack-o'-lantern effect. (NASA)
This imaging shows the sun in 171 angstrom light as captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, one of two images used to create the jack-o'-lantern effect. (NASA)