Sun's coronal streamers. Optical photograph of the corona around the Sun, seen during a total solar eclipse. Radiating coronal streamers are seen. The brown and blue regions are the corona. The corona is the Sun's outer atmosphere of hot gases, which is much fainter than the Sun's photosphere (surface of the Sun) and normally invisible due to the brightness of the Sun. The black circle is the Moon, which totally covers the Sun's disc, enabling the corona to be seen. Photograph taken from India on 16 February 1980, using a special camera and filter.