The only sign of a massive explosion on the far side of the Sun is a tell-tale cloud of solar material the event belched into space.

While the event could not be seen directly from Earth – it occurred behind the Sun’s western limb from our perspective – photographer Gary Palmer tracked the resulting gas cloud that flung into space.

Palmer used a SolarMax70 telescope to catch this view of the cloud on Feb. 20, 2005. This solar eruption, like all events on the Sun’s farside as seen from Earth, did not affect our planet but was oriented toward Mars at the time.

-- Tariq Malik

Credit: G. Palmer.