Halloween isn’t just celebrated on planet Earth, according to a photo shared by Nasa that shows the sun resembling a flaming jack-o’-lantern.
On Sunday, the space agency shared a photo of the sun’s 2014 Halloween look on social media, and it is easy to see the similarities between the star at the centre of the Solar System and a pumpkin.
“Even our star celebrates the spooky season,” Nasa captioned the photo. “In 2014, active regions on the sun created this jack-o’-lantern face, as seen in ultraviolet light by our Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite.”
According to Nasa, the active regions appear “brighter” because those are areas that emit more light and energy.
“They are markers of an intense and complex set of magnetic fields hovering in the sun’s atmosphere, the corona,” the space agency explained.
This image of the sun is fitting for the holiday because it “blends together two sets of extreme ultraviolet wavelengths at 171 and 193 Ångströms, typically colourised in gold and yellow, to create a particularly Halloween-like appearance”.
On Twitter, where the photo was liked more than times 2,000, people have expressed their amazement at the sun’s resemblance to a jack-o’-lantern.
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The eye of Hurricane Dorian as captured by Nasa astronaut Nick Hague from onboard the International Space Station (ISS) on 3 September
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The River Nile and its delta captured at night from the ISS on 2 September
Nasa
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The galaxy Messier 81, located in the northern constellation of Ursa Major, as seen by Nasa’s Spitzer Space Telescope
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The flight path Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft is seen in this long exposure photograph as it launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 25 September
Nasa/Bill Ingalls
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Danielson Crater, an impact crater in the Arabia region of Mars, as captured by Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft
Nasa/JPL-Caltech
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A team rehearses landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico
Nasa/Bill Ingalls
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Bound for the International Space Station, the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 25 September
Nasa/Bill Ingalls
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Hurricane Dorian as seen from the ISS on 2 September
Nasa
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A string of tropical cyclones streams across Earth’s northern hemisphere in this picture taken from the ISS on 4 September
Nasa
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The city of New York as seen from the ISS on 11 September
Nasa
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The eye of Hurricane Dorian as captured by Nasa astronaut Nick Hague from onboard the International Space Station (ISS) on 3 September
Nasa/EPA
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The River Nile and its delta captured at night from the ISS on 2 September
Nasa
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The galaxy Messier 81, located in the northern constellation of Ursa Major, as seen by Nasa’s Spitzer Space Telescope
Nasa/JPL-Caltech
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The flight path Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft is seen in this long exposure photograph as it launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 25 September
Nasa/Bill Ingalls
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Danielson Crater, an impact crater in the Arabia region of Mars, as captured by Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft
Nasa/JPL-Caltech
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A team rehearses landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will be used to carry humans to the International Space Station at the White Sands Missile Range outside Las Cruces, New Mexico
Nasa/Bill Ingalls
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Bound for the International Space Station, the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 25 September
Nasa/Bill Ingalls
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Hurricane Dorian as seen from the ISS on 2 September
Nasa
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A string of tropical cyclones streams across Earth’s northern hemisphere in this picture taken from the ISS on 4 September
Nasa
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The city of New York as seen from the ISS on 11 September
Nasa
“That’s the coolest jack-o’-lantern I’ve ever laid my eyes on,” one person wrote, while another speculated that the star was “having some fun out there”.
The space agency’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which took the photo, “watches the sun at all times from its orbit in space”.
