By 3 News online staff
Believers in the 2012 end-times conspiracy got a boost today, with a new picture posted on the NASA website appearing to show the Sun flipping the bird.
Astronomy blogger Philip Plait linked to the image on his Google+ page, and an enhanced version which shows the Sun's fury in greater detail.
"I've been getting some links to a funny picture of the Sun taken with the Solar Dynamics Observatory today," he wrote.
"Being the wet blanket I am, I went and looked to see if it was real... and to my surprise found out it was."
Our star's obscene gesture follows the biggest solar storm in eight years, and comes in a year many – probably mistakenly – believe the world is going to end.
Or perhaps it's just annoyed at having its photo taken.
3 News
source: newshub archive
