Venus transit: full resolution details seen in extreme ultraviolet light

The 11 images on this page are cutouts from originals at full resolution (4096 × 4096 pixel), produced by the AIA instrument of the NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory during the transit of Venus on June 5-6. They are arranged as a series of snapshots showing interesting details of the event. In the extreme ultraviolet light at 335 Å captured in these images, the dark disk of Venus appears together with recognizable features of the Sun such as coronal loops, prominences and a large coronal hole.

2012-06-05 22:00:05 UT. This and the following images are courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams

Venus "meets" a giant coronal hole on the Sun's atmosphere

The 35 images on this page show the whole Venus transit of June 5-6, 2012, as viewed at 193 angstrom by the AIA instrument of the NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. This extreme ultraviolet wavelength allows to see the sun's atmosphere, blocking the overwhelming glare of the photosphere. In this ultraviolet light, coronal holes become visible, and in fact a giant one is seen on the right side of the Sun. Venus appears approaching closer and closer the bird-shaped coronal hole, until 01:30 UT of June 6, when the disk of the planet passes exactly over the bird's "head". The series of images covers about 8.5 hours, from 21:15:20 UT of June 5 to 5:44:08 UT of June 6.

Croissants, triangles, birds: some of the weirdest coronal holes seen on the Sun

A dark croissant-shaped hole opened up in the sun's atmosphere, and spewed a stream of solar wind into space. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory took this picture of the vast opening during the early hours of January 30, 2011. Coronal holes are regions where the sun's corona is dark. These features were discovered when X-ray telescopes were first flown above the Earth's atmosphere to reveal the structure of the corona across the solar disc. Coronal holes are associated with 'open' magnetic field lines and are often found at the sun’s poles. The high-speed solar wind is known to originate in coronal holes.

Credit: NASA/SDO/AIA