Composite of: - EIT EUV image taken in the Fe XV line at 284A showing the corona above the disk at a temperature of about 2-2.5 million K (innermost image) - UVCS image showing the Sun's outer atmosphere as it appears in ultraviolet light emitted by electrically charged oxygen (O VI) flowing away from the Sun to form the solar wind (middle region), and - Image of the extended whight light corona as recorded by the outer LASCO coragraph (C3) on 23 December 1996. The field of view of this instrument encompasses 32 diameters of the Sun. To put this in perspective, the diameter of this image is 45 million kilometers at the distance of the Sun, or half of the diameter of the orbit of Mercury. During that time of the year, the Sun is located in the constellation Sagittarius. The center of the Milky Way is visible, as well as the dark interstellar dust rift, which stretches from the south to the north. Three prominent streamers can be seen (two at the West and one at the East limb). This image also shows Comet SOHO-6 (elongated streak at about 7:30 hours), one of several tens of sun-grazing comets discovered so far by LASCO. It eventually plunged into the Sun.

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