The 230 megapixel shot is made up of 100,000 images (Picture: @cosmic_background/SWNS)

This blood-red picture of the Sun is thought to be one of the clearest photos ever taken of it from earth.

The stunning close-up shot was taken using an ultra-sharp telescope by American astronomical photographer Andrew McCarthy.

He layered thousands of images over each other to capture enormous detail of the star, which is 93 million miles from earth.