This stunning image shows the sun's corona during two total solar eclipses — on April 20, 2023, and April 8, 2024.
The photo, snapped by a team of eclipse-chasing astrophotographers known as the Solar Wind Sherpas, is significant because it shows the sun during solar maximum, the peak in its roughly 11-year cycle.
The sun's corona is the hottest and outermost layer of the star's atmosphere; it extends millions of miles into space.
The image shows the combined results of images of the corona taken during two separate totalities and in multiple wavelengths, providing important information for solar physicists' attempts to understand the corona and its temperature.