posted by Dr. Amber Jenkins
17:00 PDT
This image shows one of the first pictures from NASA's recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO. The spacecraft is revealing never-before-seen details of material streaming outward and away from sunspots. Other images offer extreme close-ups of activity on the sun’s surface, and the first high-resolution measurements of solar flares in a broad range of extreme ultraviolet wavelengths. The sun's activities affect everything on Earth, and SDO should offer unprecedented insights into our star's dynamic processes. For more information, take a look here.