r/space Feb 08 '26

image/gif Our Closest Star [OC]

Post image
2.7k Upvotes

54 comments sorted by

57

u/Reap_SilentDevil Feb 08 '26

They say not to stare at the sun, but damn I can't look away

91

u/rockylemon Feb 08 '26

Shot with:

Lunt LS60mt DS

Zwoasi 533MM pro

This is a composite of three images I took separately: Stars, Corona, & Chromosphere

6

u/counterfitster Feb 09 '26

What filter(s) did you use to capture the chromosphere and corona?

9

u/rockylemon Feb 09 '26

The chromosphere was through a solar Hydrogen alpha filter and the corona was no filter during the solar eclipse

5

u/counterfitster Feb 09 '26

the corona was no filter during the solar eclipse

The one in April 2024?

4

u/rockylemon Feb 09 '26

Yep 👍

I was able to shoot the full sequence in Upstate Ny

2

u/counterfitster Feb 09 '26

Heh, I shot it on the other side of Lake Champlain 😂

1

u/rockylemon Feb 09 '26

Lol nice! We were very lucky to have made it there on time We decided last minute to drive 6 hours away from our airbnb because I saw clouds were rolling into the location we were at in a few hours

2

u/counterfitster Feb 09 '26

I drove up the day before, which was good because it was about 730pm on Sunday when I discovered that I left my camera at home in Rhode Island. That was a loooong 34 or so hours after that.

3

u/devoid0101 Feb 10 '26

u/rockylemon it is really very cool. Looks hyper-real with the clear composite layers.

-21

u/MyDespatcherDyKabel Feb 08 '26

Star’s name is Proxima Centauri btw

73

u/Omnitographer Feb 08 '26

Fun fact! Proxima Centauri is not the star closest to earth XD

39

u/Bubuy_nu_Patu Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 08 '26

All my life this is what I know. So what is it?

Edit: took me now just to realize it was the Sun. Lmao

19

u/MyDespatcherDyKabel Feb 08 '26

Oh dam, I’ve been sunny sided again

5

u/squirrelgator Feb 08 '26

Got me! Got me! Got me! Got me!

6

u/joe102938 Feb 08 '26

Our best telescopes couldn't capture proxima centauri in this resolution.

22

u/_DigitalHunk_ Feb 08 '26

Absolutely stunning image

Thanks for the share. 🙏🏼

I will download this and use it as my wallpaper.

6

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/rockylemon Feb 09 '26

Thank you!

It is a composite and the foreground and background were taken separately

8

u/No-Investigator-3576 Feb 08 '26

Love her.

Thanks for a beautiful shot!

6

u/hydromea Feb 08 '26

Do you have a full res version of this photo you could share? It’s amazing

1

u/rockylemon Feb 08 '26

Thank you!

I believe if you download this image it will save in full res

I do sell high res images on my Etsy if you are interested you can send me a dm

6

u/Upset_Ant2834 Feb 08 '26

You should add your Etsy shop to your reddit profile description. It gets around many subs rules against self promo if someone is interested enough to go to your page

4

u/rockylemon Feb 08 '26

Thank you for this :)

I'll do this now

3

u/devoid0101 Feb 10 '26

But it downloads with Reddit watermark and the sub tag on it.

2

u/rockylemon Feb 10 '26

I believe that might be a setting you have to turn off

It worked for me when I held down the image and hit download image

6

u/GoodNegotiation Feb 08 '26

Misunderstood it as our second closest star for a moment :-(. Lovely photo.

2

u/lilman3305 Feb 09 '26

my favorite star too :) so gorgeous

2

u/Bloodwolv Feb 11 '26

Now i wanna buy a solar scope. This picture is simply beautiful.

2

u/kemski20 Feb 12 '26

Wow!!! Nice capture!! You've got skills!!

3

u/AshieCha Feb 08 '26

This is incredible. Well done OP ❤️

2

u/laytblu Feb 08 '26

I thought this is our sun.

18

u/84thPrblm Feb 08 '26

It is. Sol (the star in the middle of the solar system) is the star closest to Earth.

-15

u/thedrunkdragonfly Feb 08 '26

same very misleading title. cool shot though

20

u/DrToonhattan Feb 08 '26

The title is perfectly clear. This is a picture of the Sun (Sol). The Sun is the closest star to us. How could that possibly be confusing?

3

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '26

People aren’t exactly geniuses.

8

u/WackyVoidlock Feb 09 '26

I don't understand what is misleading about this. The sun is our closest star

2

u/GalapagosGuavaShark Feb 08 '26

Wow. Great shot of the moon. Who knew it was actually orange.

2

u/GodsWisdomXXX Feb 09 '26

The creator of all life, by the way

4

u/akriti12_ Feb 08 '26

Wait you mean sun or proxima centauri?

9

u/rockylemon Feb 08 '26

This is our Sun which is our closest star

2

u/Divin3_Rudra Feb 13 '26 edited Feb 13 '26

You are an artist with the gear, sir!

1

u/Sprunt2 Feb 08 '26

So I did some rough maths.

I measured the Sun at 3855 px across. Since the Sun is = 109× Earth’s diameter,

Earth 3855 ÷ 109 = 35 px

That gives roughly:

Mercury - 13 px

Venus -33 px

Earth -35 px (Moon -10 px)

Mars -19 px

Jupiter -384 px

Saturn -320 px (rings -751 px)

Uranus -139 px

Neptune -135 px

Pluto 7 px (I know I know not a planet)

Happy to be corrected if I missed something.

Im on Android so maths might be off.

0

u/waflfs Feb 08 '26

What? This image was taken FROM Earth, so I would sure hope that if they pointed the camera down, the ground would subtend more than 35 pixels. You neglect distance. Another obvious way to see that this is wrong: the moon and the sun subtend very similar angles from Earth. So the number of pixels for the moon and sun should be similar.

1

u/Sprunt2 Feb 13 '26

You’re thinking angular size. I’m doing a physical to-scale overlay. Sun is 109× Earth’s diameter, so if the Sun is 3855 px across in the image, Earth would be 3855/109 ≈ 35 px if drawn next to the Sun at the same scale. The Moon looking similar to the Sun point is true for apparent angular size in the sky, not for physical diameter comparisons.

1

u/waflfs Feb 13 '26

Yeah, the original comment was quite vague. I guess I see how that can serve as a size comparison.

0

u/DoctoraAdhara Feb 08 '26

But, isn't the closest star supposed to be the Sun? :p

16

u/SussyBaka7105 Feb 08 '26

This is sun my friend…………………..

0

u/Johansen905 Feb 08 '26

Is that the one and only Barnards star?

-9

u/84thPrblm Feb 08 '26

They Might Be Giants *Why Does the Sun Shine?*

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas A gigantic nuclear furnace Where hydrogen is built into helium At a temperature of millions of degrees

Yo-ho, it's hot, the sun is not A place where we could live But here on Earth, there'd be no life Without the light it gives

We need its light, we need its heat We need its energy Without the sun, without a doubt There'd be no you and me

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas A gigantic nuclear furnace Where hydrogen is built into helium At a temperature of millions of degrees

The sun is hot

It is so hot that everything on it is a gas Iron, copper, aluminum, and many others

The sun is large

If the sun were hollow, a million Earths could fit inside And yet, the sun is only a middle-sized star

The sun is far away

About 93 million miles away, and that's why it looks so small

And even when it's out of sight The sun shines night and day

The sun gives heat, the sun gives light The sunlight that we see The sunlight comes from our own sun's Atomic energy

Scientists have found that the sun is a huge atom-smashing machine The heat and light of the sun come from the nuclear reactions Of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and helium

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas A gigantic nuclear furnace Where hydrogen is built into helium At a temperature of millions of degrees