UPDATE... September 19, 2013... This image received second place honors in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year awards from the Greenwich Royal Observatory!

A close-up of the central region of AR 1520... a magnetic beauty. Here is a wide-field view of the whole banana.

This image was featured as NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day on July 14, 2012. Jason Major also wrote a great story featuring these images on UniverseToday.

July 11, 2012/ captured with Astro-Physics 10" mak/cass, PGR Grasshopper camera

© Alan Friedman | all rights reserved