AN AMATEUR photographer has snapped an incredible series of images of the sun, pointing his telescope right at the largest object in the solar system.

A greeting card maker by day, after work Alan Friedman pursues his passion for astronomy, spends his spare time capturing astonishing photos of the sun from his own backyard in downtown Buffalo, New York.

Employing special filters to look right at the sun, Friedman devotes his attention to creating high resolution views that he hopes inspire imaginations and appreciation of the natural world.

"My photographs comprise a solar diary, portraits of a moment in the life of our local star," Friedman says in his artist's statement.

"Using a small telescope and narrow band filters I can capture details in high resolution and record movements in the solar atmosphere that change over hours and sometimes minutes."

To record the images, Friedman employs a hydrogen alpha filter that passes only a narrow slice of the deep red end of the visible spectrum, attached to a small telescope.

This camera streams images at up to 120 frames a second, helping Friedman capture usable images made up of many thousands of frames.

Simon Crerar is News Limited's Visual Story Editor, follow him at twitter.com/simoncrerar