NASA video of swirling magnetic arches on the sun is completely mesmerizing

 By 
Miriam Kramer
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

A new video taken by a telescope in space shows a small slice of the awesome beauty of Earth's closest star.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the video, which shows "cascading magnetic arches" on the sun after a filament of solar material erupted from the star on Dec. 16 to 17, the space agency said.

The arches look like they're glowing as they give off ultraviolet light, which is actually invisible to the human eye -- but researchers colorized it to make the details of the magnetic arches really pop.

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