THE disc of this monstrous sun, sinking over the skyline of Baghdad, is marred by a few dark marks. These are the sunspots associated with the record solar flares and spectacular auroras that occurred late last year.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 notice the sunspots at the time because I was too busy looking over my shoulder,鈥� says Ed Harriman, who was filming the sunset for a documentary on the war in Iraq. Only when editing the images did he realise that he had,by chance, caught them on camera.
Mike Dworetsky, director of the University of London Observatory, says sunspots can often be seen when the sun is setting because the rest of the disc is dimmed. The sunspots are particularly clear in this image because of the thick haze of sand and traffic fumes hanging over Baghdad.
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