NASA SDO: Shifting Plasma Images

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has released images of plasma shifting back and forth above the sun's surface for 30 hours.

On February 7th - 8th an active region rotating into view provides a bright backdrop to the gyrating streams of plasma.

The particles are being pulled in various directions by competing magnetic forces.

They are tracking along strands of magnetic field lines.

This kind of detailed solar observation with high-resolution frames and a four-minute cadence was not possible until SDO, which launched two years ago on February 11th, 2010.

Picture: NASA SDO / Rex Features