Moment of Wonder: Staring at the Sun

NASA has uploaded its first batch of ultra-high definition videos, including a beautiful and hellish close-up video of the sun’s surface.

The video was assembled from data collected by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, which orbits Sol and captures images across 10 wavelengths of invisible ultraviolet light. Each wavelength represents a different temperature of solar material.

The images allow NASA scientists to examine solar activity, such as solar flares and streams of electrified plasma called coronal loops. For lay folks like myself, they provide one mind-bending light show.