Sun's secrets revealed in eclipse

This picture was captured in Bor Udzuur, Mongolia, when the moon passed over the sun.

The strange shapes that come from behind the moon are the sun’s atmosphere. It is a layer of plasma gas which reaches temperatures up to two million degrees Celsius. It is ten times thicker than the sun’s centre and can only be seen when a total eclipse hides the sun.

Professor Miloslav Druckmuller, who saw the scene,said “it shows the enormous beauty of nature”