--- description: Just in time for Halloween, NASA released photos of the Sun on Oct. 8 looking a lot like a Jack-O-Lantern, and it's kind of terrifying. title: Sun Halloween Pictures NASA: Most Terrifying Pictures of the Sun image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5db7803dc7072417/698760175f570f4c82b12a85/halloween_sun_2014.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here Are the Most Terrifying Pictures of the Sun You'll Ever See  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Oct 10, 2014 8:17 PM CUT  A NASA photo taken Oct. 8 appears to look like Jack-O-Lantern. A NASA photo taken Oct. 8 appears to look like Jack-O-Lantern.NASA/GSFC/SDO  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Oct 10, 2014 8:17 PM CUT Just in time for Halloween, NASA released [photos](http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html "undefined") of the Sun on Wednesday—and it’s looking a lot like a Jack-O-Lantern, and it’s kind of terrifying. The images, produced by NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio, aren’t photoshopped, but they do combine images from two wavelengths that typically emit gold and yellow. The difference in the photo’s brightness is a result of different levels of energy and light emissions from the surface of the sun. More energy emitted results in a brighter appearance. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3491240/sun-photos-halloween/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3491240/sun-photos-halloween/"},"headline":"Here Are the Most Terrifying Pictures of the Sun You'll Ever See","datePublished":"2014-10-10T20:17:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:13:44.623Z","description":"The sun looks like it's ready for Halloween","url":"https://time.com/3491240/sun-photos-halloween/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Bizarre","Science topic","sun"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5db7803dc7072417/698760175f570f4c82b12a85/halloween_sun_2014.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5db7803dc7072417/698760175f570f4c82b12a85/halloween_sun_2014.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Halloween_Sun_2014","caption":"A NASA photo taken Oct. 8 appears to look like Jack-O-Lantern.","creditText":"NASA/GSFC/SDO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3491240/sun-photos-halloween/","name":"Here Are the Most Terrifying Pictures of the Sun You'll Ever See"}}]}] ```