NASA: sunspot, volcano, space station

Isn't this a neat photo?! A further explanation about the photo can be found here. On my cold, rainy Montana day the warmth of the photo appeals to me.

Credit & Copyright: Greg Piepol (sungazer.net)

A solar flare sun photo from 1999. Info here.

Credit: SOHO-EIT Consortium, ESA, NASA

Another neat photo is of an Alaskan volcano erupting as seen from the International Space Station. More info here.

Credit: J. N. Williams, International Space Station 13 Crew, NASA

I don't remember seeing a photo of the entire space station before. It kind of surprised me it was so big, and that it seems so close to earth. Guess that is why the volcano plume seems so close. The station is 240 miles up. More interesting info about the distance from earth and what astronauts can see of the earth from the space station is here. More info about the following photo here.

Credit: STS-114 Crew, NASA

In fact, the whole NASA Picture-of-the-Day site has cool photos.

And yes, the site has star photos. Info on this photo here.

Credit: ESA & NASA; Acknowledgement: E. Olszewski (U. Arizona) HST