Watch the Sun Reveal Three Years of its Solar Life in Three Minutes (Video)

Three years ago, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) began providing stunning images of the sun. With nearly unbroken coverage since then, scientists have seen how our sun has risen toward solar maximum, the peak of solar activity in its regular 11-year cycle. Now, the space agency has released a video which shows those three years at a pace of two images per day.

The video itself reveals our sun swirling in space, bright spots appearing and fading over time. You can clearly see the subtle increases and decreases in apparent size of the sun; this is due to the fact that the distance between the SDO spacecraft and the sun varied. Nonetheless, it's remarkably consistent considering the fact that the SDO orbits Earth at 6,876 miles per hour while Earth itself zooms around the sun at 67,062 miles per hour.

Capturing the images to make this video was part of a huge effort. SDO's Atmospheric Imaging Assembling (AIA) actually captures a shot of the sun every 12 seconds in ten different wavelengths--a feat even for the advanced equipment. In the video, the images are based on a wavelength of 171 Angstroms, which is in the extreme ultraviolet range. This shows the solar material around 600,000 Kelvin.

Yet these images weren't just compiled to make a video, they were part of an effort to learn more about our closest star. They regularly captured solar flares and coronal mass ejections in the act. This type of space weather can hurl radiation toward Earth and interrupt radio signals or even interfere with satellites in space. In fact, the sun recently slung its strongest flare yet. The M6.5 flare, which was associated with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection, ended up causing a R2 radio blackout.

Since the sun is nearing its peak, it's more crucial than ever to monitor its activity. You can see the sun for yourself by checking out the video below, courtesy of NASA.