Sun Surface Close-Up: Image Captures Stunning View Of Sun's Active Region (PHOTO)

This is not a Jackson Pollock.

French skywatcher Jean-Pierre Brahic snapped the shot in February 2011, capturing an active solar region with insanely strong magnetic fields. According to Space.com, the image was created by combining multiple exposures of the same region, in order to create a view that would otherwise be unseeable.

Active regions of the sun are defined by their strong magnetic fields. As a result, solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are often associated with the region, and they appear bright in X-ray and ultraviolet images.

These aren't the only amazing shots of the sun. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has captured some amazing images of the sun at a number of different wavelengths. As a result, the organization has been able to share stunning, constantly updating images of the star, available for all to see. Check out NASA footage of a solar flare here, and view a solar flare eruption image here.

Note: As Space.com warns, never stare directly at the sun.

You can click on the image below for a larger, high-resolution version of the shot.

Comments

[jachavez]

02:48 PM on 11/11/2011

Nature, on Earth or in space, is awesome.
http://realesttalkblog.blogspot.com

[Bolkonsky]

07:19 PM on 11/07/2011

Wow - incredible endless raw power.

I wonder if we could make use of it somehow down here ?

[Json]

04:48 PM on 11/07/2011

Why can't people put scale bars on pictures like this??

[daverami]

11:50 AM on 11/07/2011

Wow, looks like a Van Gogh

[librldem]

11:03 AM on 11/07/2011

It is best to explore or view the sun at night when it's not so hot and shiny.

[LMPE]

04:32 PM on 11/06/2011

It looks about as stable as Rush Limbaugh's mind.

[CaroleK1970]

04:08 PM on 11/06/2011

I've been there, nice place but the coffee sucks

[beachbum07]

02:57 PM on 11/06/2011

The sun is beautiful.

[Roy m]

06:20 AM on 11/06/2011

It's just like that moon conspiracy what your REALLY looking at is an egg yoke,OK don't think about it too long you'll get the yoke!

[lesaltatum]

01:20 AM on 11/06/2011

It looks like a painting by Vincent Van Gogh.

[Tunghoy]

01:53 AM on 11/06/2011

This is great. Now I know what Van Gogh was seeing.

[stargazer13]

10:42 PM on 11/05/2011

the sun is dancing :)

[firebirdam7]

10:39 PM on 11/05/2011

What an beautiful picture. Makes me want to reach in a see what it feels like.

[Litho-stone]

03:45 PM on 11/07/2011

It feels like pain and melting.

[Valerie Noriega]

10:25 PM on 11/05/2011

this is as close you get to the sun without frying like a french fry. but isn't just breath taking.

[kiowapecan]

10:22 PM on 11/05/2011

Makes one wonder why the thing doesn't overheat and explode. Strange that it is controlled.

[palindrom]

01:13 AM on 11/06/2011

Occasionally a solar flare goes off on the surface, as the magnetic field reconfigures, leading to a big burst of particles and radiation, mostly.

But the main nuclear reaction is sequestered deep, deep within the sun, where it is confined by gravity. If the sun expanded, it would slow, and the outer layers would fall back. it's nice and stable -- this has been understood for at least half a century.

[Tunghoy]

01:49 AM on 11/06/2011

A star does a delicate balancing act between internal pressure of fusion pushing outward, and gravity pulling inward. Eventually the star will exhaust its supply of hydrogen, and gravity will win.

What happens next depends on the size of the star. In the Sun's case, it will start burning helium, and expand into a red giant, turning Earth into a cinder. When the helium is exhausted, it will lose its outer layers and shrink to a brown dwarf, with only a fraction of its former heat.

[Clozure]

08:47 AM on 11/07/2011

Praise Science!