X-ray picture of the Sun taken by the solar telescope on board the orbiting Skylab space station in 1973. The bright coloured areas are solar active regions, which are restricted to two parallel belts on either side of the solar equator. At the beginning of each 11-year solar cycle, the active regions appear at around 45 degrees solar latitude and gradually converge towards the Sun's equator as the 11 years elapse. This picture was taken late in the solar cycle. Skylab was launched on May 14, 1973, and was manned by 3 separate crews of 3 astronauts for a total of 171 days.

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