A telescope image of a large sunspot and solar prominences during a time of high solar activity. The sunspot figure reminds a picture of Buddha, who is often regarded as the Sun of Enlightenment. This image was obtained with an H-alpha filter, which reveals the chromosphere, a reddish layer of the Sun's atmosphere. A prominence is a cloud of plasma anchored to the Sun's surface in the photosphere, and extending outwards into the Sun's corona. Date: August 2011