
Image caption
Intensitygrams—images of the Sun in filtered visible light—based on data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory telescope on February 28, 2014, (left), near the maximum of the last solar cycle, and on February 18, 2020 (right), near the solar minimum. Dark patches called sunspots are easier to see than their companion faculae, diffuse bright areas that contribute to making the Sun slightly brighter during solar maximum. Images from NASA SDO.