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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO.

Music Credit: “Atomic Drift,” “Echoes of the Unknown,” and “Particle Reverie” from the album Molecular Echoes. Written and produced by Lars Leonhard.

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.

Complete transcript available.

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Launched in 2010, SDO monitors the Sun continuously in 10 wavelengths of light. This video shows the Sun from Feb. 1–9 in extreme ultraviolet light at 171 angstroms. This wavelength reveals the Sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, at temperatures of about 600,000 kelvin (roughly 1 million degrees Fahrenheit, or about 540,000 degrees Celsius).

The imagery highlights bright, looping arcs of hot plasma shaped by powerful magnetic fields rising from AR4366. These magnetic fields store and release energy that drives solar flares and other solar activity. During the span of this video, AR4366 produced six X-class flares — the most powerful category — and 75 M-class flares, the next strongest level.
As the active region crossed the Sun’s disk, it offered a striking view of the Sun’s magnetic complexity and the dynamic forces that shape space weather throughout the solar system.", "items": [], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 379763, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14972/#media_group_379763", "widget": "Video player", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "This video condenses nine days of solar activity into just four minutes, playing 3,240 times faster than real time.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO.

Music Credit: “Atomic Drift” from the album Molecular Echoes. Written and produced by Lars Leonhard.

Complete transcript available.

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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO.

Music Credit: “Atomic Drift” from the album Molecular Echoes. Written and produced by Lars Leonhard.

Complete transcript available.

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Written and produced by Lars Leonhard.Complete transcript available.", "width": 1080, "height": 1920, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 511078, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1202187, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014900/a014972/14972ActiveRegionShortCaptions.en_US.srt", "filename": "14972ActiveRegionShortCaptions.en_US.srt", "media_type": "Captions", "alt_text": "This short video, in both vertical and horizontal formats, condenses nine days of solar activity into just 1:20, playing 9,720 times faster than real time. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO. Music Credit: “Atomic Drift” from the album Molecular Echoes. Written and produced by Lars Leonhard.Complete transcript available.", "label": "English", "language_code": "en-US" } }, { "id": 511079, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1202188, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014900/a014972/14972ActiveRegionShortCaptions.en_US.vtt", "filename": "14972ActiveRegionShortCaptions.en_US.vtt", "media_type": "Captions", "alt_text": "This short video, in both vertical and horizontal formats, condenses nine days of solar activity into just 1:20, playing 9,720 times faster than real time. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO. Music Credit: “Atomic Drift” from the album Molecular Echoes. 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Hatfield", "employer": "Telophase" } ] } ], "missions": [ "SDO" ], "series": [ "SDO - Edited Features", "SDO - Footage" ], "tapes": [], "papers": [], "datasets": [], "nasa_science_categories": [ "Sun" ], "keywords": [ "Corona", "Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging", "Heliophysics", "SDO", "Solar Dynamics Observatory", "Solar Flares", "Space Weather" ], "recommended_pages": [], "related": [ { "id": 14973, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14973/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Furious February Flares", "description": "In early February 2026, the Sun emitted more than 50 flares including several X-class events, which is the most intense category of solar flares. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory watches the Sun 24/7 and captured these views of the Sun in multiple wavelengths of light.The Sun’s activity, which includes flares, follows an approximately 11-year cycle that creates periods of high and low activity. After reaching the current cycle’s most active phase in 2024 — known as solar maximum — the Sun remains in a heightened period of activity.For news of the recent flares: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/solar-cycle-25/ || ", "release_date": "2026-02-17T10:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2026-02-17T16:44:09-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 1201958, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014900/a014973/14973_FebFlares_4K_H264.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "14973_FebFlares_4K_H264.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Music credit: “Gravity” by Cy Samuels [PRS] via Universal Production Music Complete transcript available.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 14964, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14964/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Early February Flares 2026", "description": "So far, the Sun has emitted six X-class solar flares in the first four days of February. X-class flares are the most powerful. In this composite image, we've layered all six X-class flares onto the Sun at once, to show the active areas. The images come from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which observes the Sun in different wavelengths, using filters that emphasize different characteristics. Flare #6, for example, shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares, which is colored in red and blue. The Sun’s magnetic field goes through a cycle, called the solar cycle, about every 11 years, with periods of more and less activity. The Sun reached its most active phase – solar maximum – in 2024, which means we’re still in a fairly active period of the cycle.For news of the recent flares: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/solar-cycle-25/Image DescriptionComposite image of 6 X-class solar flares emitted in February. In the center, the Sun is a dark red globe with mottled darker and glowing orange spots. Just above the equator and to the left of center longitudinally, 2 bright white glowing spots are made of the combined 6 X-class flares emitted so far. Six squares pop out from the center Sun, with lines connecting to the spot on the composite Sun their flare is contributing. Along the top, the squares are labeled 2, 4 and 6. Each has a subset of the Sun seen in a different colored wavelength. Box 2 is a purple Sun with a pinkish flare, from Feb. 2, 2026. Box 4 is a golden Sun with a white flare from Feb. 2, 2026. Box 6 is a pink Sun with an orange flare from Feb. 4, 2026. Along the bottom, the boxes are labeled 1, 3 and 5. Box 1 has a turquoise Sun with a teal flare from Feb. 1, 2026. Box 3 has a yellow Sun with an orange flare from Feb. 2, 2026. Box 5 has a red Sun the same color as the center, with a white flare, from Feb. 3, 2026. || February_2026_X_Flares_SIX_FINAL.jpg (7000x7000) [5.3 MB] || ", "release_date": "2026-02-05T13:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2026-02-09T16:36:55-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 1201856, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014900/a014964/SDO_02-03-26_131.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "SDO_02-03-26_131.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this video of an X1.5 solar flare – as seen in the bright eruption on the upper left — at 14:15 UTC on Februrary 3, 2026. The image shows 131 Angstrom light, a subset of extreme ultraviolet light. Credit: NASA/SDO", "width": 1024, "height": 868, "pixels": 888832 } } ], "sources": [], "products": [], "newer_versions": [], "older_versions": [], "alternate_versions": [] }