An astrophotographer has captured a 286-megapixel image of the sun during the largest solar activity in decades.

The visuals, which show huge fireballs circling on the surface of the sun, can be zoomed in to see the full fiery mass in extreme detail.

Andrew McCarthy, known to his online followers as @cosmic_background, took the pictures through a telescope, being careful not to be blinded by the harsh rays of the sun.

He then selected the clearest images to produce the high-definition once-in-a-lifetime shot.

Andrew said: "Seeing the full sun at this level of detail is probably not something many people have ever seen in their lives.

"During a period of heightened solar activity, the sun will look like this all the time. This image is more of a sign that the 11-year cycle is nearing the maximum portion of its activity.

"Going through 100,000 photos by hand was the most tedious part of the final image.

“Throughout most of the process, I didn't even know I would have a decent image at the end. I was thankful when it turned out as well as it did.”

The incredible image captures the dark spots, known as active regions, on the sun’s surface as well as bright sunspots that burst from the fireball.

The solar chromosphere, a layer in the sun’s atmosphere, can be seen as a very slim layer of hydrogen-alpha light due to Andrew’s telescope being precisely tuned with a 5-inch refractor.

More fluffy areas on the outer limb are pockets of plasma caught in the magnetic field, with lighter areas, known as filaments spread across the rest of the sun.

From these, sunspots, flares and coronal mass ejections erupt, capable of frying the Earth’s surface if they came close enough.

Andrew captured the masterpiece through a telescope in his backyard in Florence, Arizona.

"I spent about four hours capturing the sun this day, most of which was spent capturing the two-hour-long timelapse of the sunspots,” he said.

“The full sun was captured over a period of about 45 minutes but took several days to process.

"This day it was particularly windy, so I had to go in and manually remove bad images where the wind had knocked my scope around.”

Despite his actions, Andrew is keen to urge others not to look directly at the sun unless they have specialist equipment.

He said: “Do not point a telescope at the sun unless you know what you’re doing.

"Seeing a lot of activity on the sun is always thrilling for me as an amateur solar astronomer, and it represents an opportunity to share something new with my audience on social media.

"For that reason, I'm always very thrilled to see something new. These images were particularly challenging to get due to conditions, so having them turn out as well as they did was exciting."

An astrophotographer has captured a 286-megapixel image of the sun during the largest solar activity in decades.

The pictures, which show huge fireballs circling on the surface of the sun, can be zoomed in to see the full fiery mass in extreme detail.

Andrew McCarthy, known to his online followers as @cosmic_background, took the pictures through a telescope, being careful not to be blinded by the harsh rays of the sun.

He then selected the clearest images to produce the high-definition once-in-a-lifetime shot.

Andrew said: "Seeing the full sun at this level of detail is probably not something many people have ever seen in their lives.

"During a period of heightened solar activity, the sun will look like this all the time. This image is more a sign that the 11-year cycle is nearing the maximum portion of its activity.

"Going through 100,000 photos by hand was the most tedious part of the final image.

“Throughout most of the process, I didn't even know I would have a decent image at the end. I was thankful when it turned out as well as it did.”

The incredible image captures the dark spots, known as active regions, on the sun’s surface as well as bright sunspots that burst from the fireball.

The solar chromosphere, a layer in the sun’s atmosphere, can be seen as a very slim layer of hydrogen alpha light due to Andrew’s telescope being precisely tuned with a 5-inch refractor.

More ‘fluffy’ areas on the outer limb are pockets of plasma caught in the magnetic field, with lighter areas, known as ‘filaments’ spread across the rest of the sun.

From these, sunspots, flares and coronal mass ejections erupt, capable of frying the Earth’s surface if they came close enough.

Andrew captured the masterpiece through a telescope in his backyard in Florence, Arizona, USA.

"I spent about four hours capturing the sun this day, most of which was spent capturing the two-hour long timelapse of the sunspots,” he said.

“The full sun was captured over a period of about 45 minutes but took several days to process.

"This day it was particularly windy, so I had to go in and manually remove bad images where the wind had knocked my scope around.”

Despite his actions, Andrew is keen to urge others not to look directly at the sun unless they have specialist equipment.

He said: “Do not point a telescope at the sun unless you know what you’re doing.

"Seeing a lot of activity on the sun is always thrilling for me as an amateur solar astronomer, and it represents an opportunity to share something new with my audience on social media.

"For that reason, I'm always very thrilled to see something new. These images were particularly challenging to get due to conditions, so having them turn out as well as they did was exciting."