This article was taken from the February 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by <span class="s1">subscribing online.
This is our Sun, seen through gold-tinted lenses. Using 3,336 photographs collected by Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft, video producer Genna Duberstein created this blazing image using gradient filters in Photoshop. "We assign colours to specific wavelengths of light," explains Duberstein. "We usually colour this wavelength gold." The filters help astrophysicists enhance details, according to solar physicist Alex Young. "Gradient filters are used to bring out the finer scale structures in the outer part of the Sun," he says. "You can see all sorts of structures moving, and that tells us about the physics of the Sun."
These movements all contribute to space weather -- environmental change that can obstruct satellites and interfere with electrical devices on Earth. The images are also used as data in computer simulations that predict the Sun's future behaviour. "The features in this image wouldn't show up normally," says Duberstein. "This is a real rock'n'roll Sun."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
