This fiery jack o’ lantern may look like a lit pumpkin on Halloween night, but it’s actually an image of our Sun captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.<\/p>

NASA’s SDO telescope observes our host star as it orbits Earth and is one of many spacecraft dedicated to the study of the Sun<\/a>.<\/p>

More spooky space stuff<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>
Hubble’s galactic pumpkin<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>
Cosmic skeleton hand<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>
Hubble’s glowing orange eye<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li> <\/ul> <\/div>

Credit: X-ray: NASA\/CXC\/Stanford Univ.\/R. Romani et al. (Chandra); NASA\/MSFC (IXPE); Infared: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/DECaPS; Image Processing: NASA\/CXC\/SAO\/J. Schmidt <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <\/div> <\/div>
This image was captured on 8 October 2014 and has become famous over the years, often referred to as the NASA Halloween Sun.<\/p>
But what makes this image look so much like a Halloween Sun?<\/p>
$\"NASA$
NASA captures a Halloween Sun. Credit NASA\/SDO <\/figcaption> <\/figure>
The Halloween Sun explained<\/strong><\/h2>
It’s the active regions on the solar surface. These regions are brighter because those areas emit more light and energy.<\/p>
They are intense magnetic fields<\/a> hovering in the Sun’s corona; the outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere.<\/p>
The NASA Halloween Sun image blends together two sets of wavelengths at 171 and 193 angstroms.<\/p>
And because these wavelengths are usually coloured in gold and yellow hues, it gives the jack-o-lantern Sun its Halloween-like appearance.<\/p>
$\"The$
The NASA Halloween Sun image in 335 angstrom extreme ultraviolet light, making the solar pumpkin appear blue Credit: NASA\/SDO <\/figcaption> <\/figure>
Take a look at the NASA Halloween Sun image above.<\/p>
It’s the same one captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, but presented in 335 angstrom extreme ultraviolet light, which makes the pumpkin appear blue.<\/p>
And below is another view of the Halloween Sun, captured in 171 angstrom extreme ultraviolet light.<\/p>
The pumpkin appears bright golden yellow, with the areas surrounding the active regions much more visible.<\/p>
$\"The$
The sun as imaged by the Solar Dynamics Observatory on 8 October 2014 in 171 angstrom extreme ultraviolet light. Credit: NASA\/SDO <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <\/body><\/html>\n
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