SunspotsYoloDataset is a set of 1690+380+128 RGB astronomical images captured with smart telescopes with specific solar filters and annotated with the positions of sunspots that are effectively in the images. Two instruments were used for several months from Luxembourg and France between January 2023 and May 2024: a Stellina smart telescope (https://vaonis.com/stellina) and a Vespera smart telescope (https://vaonis.com/vespera).
SunspotsYoloDataset can be used to train YOLO detection models on solar images, enabling the prediction of unexpected events such as Borealis Aurora with astronomical equipment accessible to the public.
SunspotsYoloDataset is formatted with the YOLO standard, i.e., with separated files for images and annotations, usable by state-of-the-art training tools and graphical software like MakeSense (https://www.makesense.ai). More precisely, there is a ZIP file containing RGB images in JPEG format (minimal compression), and text files containing the positions of sunspots. Each RGB image has a resolution of 640 × 640 pixels.
The dataset was used to train a YOLOv7 model -- allowing to obtain the following results.
AI-powered annotation of Sunspots with a Hestia portable telescope (11/2/2025)
AI-powered annotation of Sunspots with a Vespera smart telescope (6/8/2024)
The dataset can be found here:
- [2024] SunspotsYoloDataset: annotated solar images captured with smart telescopes (January 2023 - May 2024) – DOI Link
The following studies were based on this dataset:
- [2024] Data and models for sunspots detection in solar images captured with smart telescopes – Link
If you use this dataset in a publication, please notify us to include it in this list.
If you use SunspotsYoloDataset in your work, please cite it as follows:
@inproceedings{parisot2024data,
title={Data and Models for Sunspots Detection in Solar Images Captured with Smart Telescopes},
author={Parisot, Olivier},
booktitle={International Conference on Advanced Research in Technologies, Information, Innovation and Sustainability},
pages={153--163},
year={2024},
organization={Springer}
}This dataset is released under the CC Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International.
See LICENSE for details.
For questions or collaborations, please contact Olivier Parisot at olivier.parisot@list.lu or open an issue on GitHub.
Copyright 2021-2025 Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST - http://www.list.lu/).