Shifting magnetic field lines arc high above the sun between Feb. 23 and Feb. 27, lending more credence to astronomers' belief that the Sun is emerging from ts long solar minimum period of reduced activity. Scientists expect the Sun to reach its maximum period of activity in 2013.
After a couple of years of relative quiet with few sunspots and little solar activity, this are picking up. Over an eight-day period (Mar. 4-11) several sunspot groups were picked up by the SDO.
This image was taken in extreme ultraviolet light showing powerful magnetic forces getting tangled, broke apart and reconnected. These sorts of close-ups were not possible until the SDO began operations a year ago.
This eruption was photographed on March 19, after clouds of plasma became unstable and erupted into space.
Between March 16 and March 17, the SDO spacecraft had a bird's-eye view of material spiraling along the sun's numerous magnetic field lines.
This one was quite the show. Flares and coronal mass ejections shot off in several directions between March 6 and March 8.
This flare generated a remarkable image of a waving mass of swirling plasma captured in extreme ultraviolet light by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft. NASA reported that while some material blew into space, the rest fell back to the surface of the Sun.
A flare photographed on Feb. 15. The enlarged picture, which is superimposed on a coronagraph, shows the faint edge of a coronal mass ejection as it speeds away from the Sun.
A side-by-side comparison of the Sun from exactly two years ago. The picture on the right was taken on Mar. 27, 2011. Active regions appear as lighter areas that have the capacity to generate solar storms.