Our Beautiful, Beautiful Sun

I've never seen pictures this detailed of our closest star:

The Sun is now in the quietest phase of its 11-year activity cycle, the solar minimum - in fact, it has been unusually quiet this year - with over 200 days so far with no observed sunspots. The solar wind has also dropped to its lowest levels in 50 years. Scientists are unsure of the significance of this unusual calm, but are continually monitoring our closest star with an array of telescopes and satellites.

You can click on the image above to see it in more detail or click on the link above to see the other 20 photos.