Blue-Flame Plasma on the Face of the Sun

From NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio. This video takes images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory and applies additional processing to enhance the structures that are visible. The result is a beautiful, [...]

The Great Solar Mag Flip

From NASA Heliophysics. The number of sunspots increases and decreases over time in a regular, approximately 11-year cycle, called the sunspot cycle. The exact length of the cycle can vary. [...]

Ghost Lights from Earth Orbit

A “Ghost Light” is an unexplained luminescent phenomena. That’s how aliens might see Earth if they arrived with no awareness of its civilizations, atmosphere and climate, and magnetic field. Astronauts [...]

Strange Magnetic Bubbles at the Edge of the Solar

A gem from NASA Heliophysics and the Science Visualization Studio. The sun’s magnetic field spins opposite directions on the north and south poles. These oppositely pointing magnetic fields are separated [...]

Haunting Images from the Sun

April 21, 2011 marks the one-year anniversary of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) First Light press conference, where NASA revealed the first images taken by the spacecraft. In the last [...]