Striations
Sunset over Rome
Sunset over Rome
Monument Vittorio Emmanuele
Rome
Side by side comparison of my white light photograph of the Sun as seen from Sydney on 2013-05-18 with an intensitygram from the HMI instrument of the NASA SDO satellite.

Sony A100 DSLR with Sony 500/8 AF Reflex, 1/1000 s, f/8, ISO 100.  The 11 sharpest photos were chosen from a total of 40, then aligned and stacked using custom Python software.
The Sun as seen from Sydney on 2013-05-18.  Multiple images were combined in order to obtain enough contrast to make solar faculae (bright lines) visible near the edge of the disc. 

Sony A100 DSLR with Sony 500/8 AF Reflex, 11 x 1/1000 s, f/8, ISO 100.  The 11 sharpest photos were chosen from a total of 40, then aligned and stacked using custom Python software.
2013-05-18: "Hero" Although this is a bit of a lengthy explanation, if you love the marvels of nature you might enjoy it. 

I know this story may create some controversy, so if you’re not a nature lover, maybe skip this one. Let me first say that I don’t have any particular affinity for pigeons, but in general I love all nature and especially don’t like to see animals suffer. Certainly the animal world can be harsh, I just don’t need to witness it, and if I am able to help any creature then I think I should do so. 

Several days ago we went to a local pond to watch the ducklings and goslings.  While I was photographing one of the little birds, there was a big ruckus and splashing at the other side of the pond.  When we looked over, and it took a few seconds to figure out what was happening,  we saw  one of the seagulls was trying to drown a pigeon.  The pigeon was flapping its' wings and trying to get away, and at first we didn't know if we should intervene or not. I figured that if we were witnessing it and could do something, then we should. I threw a pine cone in the vicinity and the seagull retreated but the pigeon was in the middle of the pond and while it can float, it can't swim. It was too far out for me to get to it, and it was too exhausted to do anything but just float in place. 

Then the most miraculous thing happened!!! The two turtles that live in the pond came over to the pigeon and one of them went underneath the bird and slowly started to push it to shore! It took a little time, but eventually the turtle pushed it close enough that we could get to it.  We got the pigeon out of the water and put it on the edge of the pond to dry out. It did recover and I assume it is now pooping on tourists all over the place. 

It's amazing that these little turtles knew that the pigeon needed help and they did everything they could to help it. 

I didn't have a photo of the turtle from that day; however, a few days after the incident I managed to get a good photo of the hero.
Striations
Striations
Striations
See photo in original gallery.