That does not at all explain various features of the image.
Not at all.
On the contrary, there are many clues in the photos that indicate artifacting due to inability of the camera's CCD to render the image properly because of overload. One of the most telling is the lens flare duplicates the solar disk visible but does not show the black object. If the black object were real, the flare reflection would also image it as a black object surrounded by bright light. The demonstrates that the CCD is capable of rendering the dimmer lens flare but fails on the direct image. The upper left telephoto image shows artifacting of pixelization in the wings to the left and right of the black disk where the CCDs cells are beginning to fail to respond. I could duplicate this image if I wanted to risk my digital camera. I don't care to put it at risk.
Richard Kimball, I recall you are a professional photographer. What do you think?