This incredible month-long timelapse footage of the Sun, captured recently by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, demonstrates just how active the Sun is now. Vast sunspot groups trap energy in the form of plasma (superheated gas) within magnetic fields; when these break, massive solar flares emit that energy into space. If Earthbound, the flares give rise to Aurora, which explains why there has been so much activity lately! | Go Stargazing

This is the biggest sunspot we’ve seen in almost a decade! 🤩☀️ Sunspots are cooler, darker areas on the solar surface where the Sun’s magnetic field gets especially intense, often leading to explosive solar eruptions. This sunspot was so big that nearly 14 Earths could fit inside it! The eruptions from this sunspot resulted in the historic May 2024 geomagnetic storms, where the aurora borealis, or northern lights, were seen as far south as the Florida Keys. NASA’s Illuminate: Out-of-this-world

SOT • Active Region Evolution - Sunspot and Granulation - These high resolution images show a close-up view of a moderately large sunspot. The field of view covers about 30,000 km horizontally and vertically. 29.1.2021 • The penumbral diameter of this sunspot (taken on 20.8.2013) is about 16500 km; the Earth, with an equatorial radius of 6378 km, would cover up the umbra but not the penumbra. Sunspots can be quite small (~1500 km diameter), and reach sizes up to 50000 km. While it is known that