What the sun looks like

[Jackolantern]

This will probably only interest astronomy-enthusiasts, but I thought this video looked so amazing I figured I would share. Even though we "see" the sun all the time, we really have no idea what it looks like. Even trying to Google filtered pictures of it still come up fairly uninspired, looking like a orange sphere, even though we are told it is more than this. Supposedly this may be caused by an interaction with the sheer amount of light the sun gives off and our atmosphere. Well, we get a 2-for-1 in a camera calibration in 2007 on the Stereo-B spacecraft, which has some very nice filtering ability (it only views 4 extreme UV spectrums) for viewing the sun. A video was reported from NASA in that year that shows a "stereo eclipse" of Earth's moon crossing over the sun (this was an eclipse from where the spacecraft was, and I don't believe it was one on Earth's surface). The view of the sun is awe-inspiring IMHO, as you can see sunspots, "pits", giant plasma out-channels, and the general macro texture of the outer layer. It is even detailed enough to see the clear rotation of the sun. And then you see the moon transit the sun!

NASA's stereoeclipse video

(Click one of the size links under the picture to see the video)

[Callan S.]

So even in the midst of a nuclear explosion of a proportion I can't really imagine properly, it manages to maintain features on it's surface for extended periods of time? How strange chaos is!

[Jackolantern]

Yep And to make it even stranger, it is up there creating iron and nickel out of gas as we speak!