Back garden is a suntrap!
THESE spectacular shots may look like a close up of an orange, but actually show the surface of the sun and were taken in a back garden in Stockport.
Amateur astronomer Mark Forbes, from Woodley, captured the images last Wednesday from a distance of 150 million kilometres away outside his home.
He used specialist astro-photography equipment to filter out the light that would both distort the image and potentially damage his eyesight if a normal camera was to be used.
The result shows what is happening on the sun’s surface including gases escaping for thousands of miles and colour changes as the temperature rises and falls.
Mark, 43, said: “What the images show are some of the processes taking place upon the sun’s surface and within the sun’s atmosphere.
“These can include sun-spots which are temporary phenomena that appear as distinctive dark spots, showing areas of reduced surface temperature
“Those shown in my images are many times larger than the Earth.
“Viewing objects through Earth’s atmosphere is often turbulent as the air moves and shimmers, the view skips in and out of focus as if you were looking through water, even on the clearest of sunny days it can be tricky.”
Mark has been interested in astronomy since childhood but only in recent years has he combined it with a love of photography to become a hobby.
He has also snapped eclipses, galaxies and the moon.
Once he has captured the images he enhances them with computer software.
Despite the complexity of Mark’s work he says he is still merely a beginner in the field.
He said: “I consider myself to be a novice, it’s such a rich subject that there is always lots of new techniques to learn and practice.
“When I took these images, the seeing conditions were not ideal, but overall I was generally satisfied with these results.
“I take great enjoyment with sharing my images with others, I truly believe science outreach is an important tool.
“And if my own amateur interest sparks interest in astronomy with other members of the public, then I am happy to have done my small part.”