By . Ellie Zolfagharifard . PUBLISHED: . 10:33 EST, 13 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 10:47 EST, 13 January 2014 . The seemingly placid appearance of the sun in our skies hides its true nature as a hot fireball of plasma in constant turmoil. In reality a complex network, invisible to the naked eye, surrounds the solar disc, with cells of hotter and colder plasma merging and disappearing within hours of each other. The boundaries between these constantly moving cells are hectic places. Powerful jets of plasma are often launched whenever the cell pattern changes. There was something about this bright coronal mass ejection (cropped but un-retouched) on 27 February 2002 that suggested the splash of colour found in a flower petal, especially when copied into a circular pattern. Add an extreme ultraviolet image of the sun, and the artists suggests a recreation of oneness in the universe . The extreme ultraviolet images come to Earth from the SOHO spacecraft in black and white. Then they are consistently colour coded for easy identification. For this May 1998 image, the nearly simultaneous images from three different ultraviolet imagers were each given a colour code (red, yellow and blue) and digitally merged into one . SOHO stands for Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and is a satellite that studies the sun 24 hours a day, 365 days a year without interruptions. It is currently in orbit between the Earth and the sun. It is about 150,703,456 km (92 million miles) from the sun. The spacecraft has 12 scientific instruments collecting information about the sun ranging from activity in the sun's corona to vibrations deep in the sun's interior. These changes may happen as a result of variations in the magnetic field – known as ‘magnetic reconnection’. To learn more about these reconnection jets and what causes them, scientists observe the sun at different wavelengths using a variety of techniques. These images, published under the title ‘The sun as Art’, reveal a series of scientific observations performed with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) to understand our star. One image, which looks more like an . abstract painting that a scientific study, shows 60 frames taken with . the ultraviolet spectrometer SUMER on SOHO over 10 minutes. This image shows a coronal mass ejection (CME) headed right towards Earth. A CME is a massive burst of solar wind and magnetic fields rising above the solar corona or being released into space. An extreme ultraviolet image of the sun is shown here with an expanding cloud of particles heading out on all sides of the star. The cloud impacted Earth about two days later . This image, which could be mistaken for a piece of abstract art, shows a series of observations performed with the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) to study the evolution of reconnection jets on a small patch of the sun's surface. The individual frames were taken every 10 seconds, so each row of snapshots corresponds to almost three and a half minutes of observations . This coronal mass ejection (CME) from 26 November 2000 is blasting billions of tonnes of matter at millions of kilometres per hour. An ultraviolet image of the sun has been superimposed onto the image. Colours have been altered, but nothing else has been added. The large white speckles and longer streaks are high-energy protons hitting the SOHO imager after being blasted at nearly the speed of light by the solar storm . The individual frames were taken every 10 seconds, so each row of snapshots corresponds to almost three and a half minutes of observations. Each frame shows a spectrum of the light coming from a small patch on the solar disc: the height of each frame measures 84 000 km, which is about a sixteenth of the sun’s diameter. In the first few frames of the series, the shape of the central bright region is roughly vertical, a sign that the underlying boundary was in a quiet state. After only a couple of minutes, however, the situation changed dramatically: towards the end of the first row and at the beginning of the second row, the shape of the bright region appears stretched towards the right. A pair of images taken the same day by different ultraviolet imagers are sandwiched together to make a kind of alien-shaped spacecraft. What appear to be shafts of light are in fact particles of the solar wind streaming out into space along open-ended magnetic field lines . A particularly complex and large coronal mass ejection on 4 January 2002 made even seasoned solar physicists gasp with awe. The LASCO C2 instrument observed the particles blasting out. Areas of white indicate the greatest intensity of matter; the reds somewhat less; blues, even less . Extreme ultraviolet images taken by the SOHO spacecraft come back to Earth in black and white. Then they are consistently colour coded for easy identification. One stunning image, taken in May 1998 image, shows a coronal mass ejection (CME) headed right towards Earth.  A CME is a massive burst of solar wind and magnetic fields rising above the solar corona or being released into space. An extreme ultraviolet image of the sun is shown here with an expanding cloud of particles heading out on all sides of the star. The cloud impacted Earth about two days later. This image of a rainbow was created by scientists attempting to measure the sun's interior. Tones of oscillating sound waves from the sun produce surface change on the star around every five minutes.  The nature and source of these oscillations was a mystery for many years after their discovery in 1962 . This is a wraparound 360 degree image of solar winds in the whole sky. Maps such as this can help scientists understand how solar winds behave at different altitudes . Another image shows a CME blasting billions of tonnes of matter at millions of kilometres per hour. The large white speckles and longer streaks are high-energy protons hitting the SOHO imager after being blasted at nearly the speed of light by the solar storm. A particularly complex and large coronal mass ejection on 4 January 2002 made even seasoned solar physicists gasp with awe. Scientists observed the particles blasting out. Areas of white in the image indicate the greatest intensity of matter; the reds somewhat less; blues, even less. This series of images, taken across nearly two decades, reveal the rapid changes in our sun in all its beauty and are now helping scientists understand what the future of our star might hold. The sun in extreme ultraviolet light is superimposed on a wide view of the sky around the sun. With the bright sun itself blocked, the star field beyond it comes into view. In this image, you can see bright plumes of solar wind and streamers emerging on both sides . A close-up of the filaments in this coronal mass ejection surprised scientists by exhibiting distinct twisting as they roared away from the sun in a tightly controlled pattern .
'The sun as Art' images reveal scientific observations taken by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory .
They unveil a hectic world of powerful and constantly moving plasma cells appearing on the surface of our star .
One image shows the sun blasting billions of tonnes of matter towards the Earth at millions of kilometres per hour .
Another reveals dramatic changes on the sun by superimposing images of the star from three different .
UV cameras .
By . Ellie Zolfagharifard . PUBLISHED: . 10:33 EST, 13 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 10:47 EST, 13 January 2014 . The seemingly placid appearance of the sun in our skies hides its true nature as a hot fireball of plasma in constant turmoil. In reality a complex network, invisible to the naked eye, surrounds the solar disc, with cells of hotter and colder plasma merging and disappearing within hours of each other. The boundaries between these constantly moving cells are hectic places. Powerful jets of plasma are often launched whenever the cell pattern changes. There was something about this bright coronal mass ejection (cropped but un-retouched) on 27 February 2002 that suggested the splash of colour found in a flower petal, especially when copied into a circular pattern. Add an extreme ultraviolet image of the sun, and the artists suggests a recreation of oneness in the universe . The extreme ultraviolet images come to Earth from the SOHO spacecraft in black and white. Then they are consistently colour coded for easy identification. For this May 1998 image, the nearly simultaneous images from three different ultraviolet imagers were each given a colour code (red, yellow and blue) and digitally merged into one . SOHO stands for Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and is a satellite that studies the sun 24 hours a day, 365 days a year without interruptions. It is currently in orbit between the Earth and the sun. It is about 150,703,456 km (92 million miles) from the sun. The spacecraft has 12 scientific instruments collecting information about the sun ranging from activity in the sun's corona to vibrations deep in the sun's interior. These changes may happen as a result of variations in the magnetic field – known as ‘magnetic reconnection’. To learn more about these reconnection jets and what causes them, scientists observe the sun at different wavelengths using a variety of techniques. These images, published under the title ‘The sun as Art’, reveal a series of scientific observations performed with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) to understand our star. One image, which looks more like an . abstract painting that a scientific study, shows 60 frames taken with . the ultraviolet spectrometer SUMER on SOHO over 10 minutes. This image shows a coronal mass ejection (CME) headed right towards Earth. A CME is a massive burst of solar wind and magnetic fields rising above the solar corona or being released into space. An extreme ultraviolet image of the sun is shown here with an expanding cloud of particles heading out on all sides of the star. The cloud impacted Earth about two days later . This image, which could be mistaken for a piece of abstract art, shows a series of observations performed with the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) to study the evolution of reconnection jets on a small patch of the sun's surface. The individual frames were taken every 10 seconds, so each row of snapshots corresponds to almost three and a half minutes of observations . This coronal mass ejection (CME) from 26 November 2000 is blasting billions of tonnes of matter at millions of kilometres per hour. An ultraviolet image of the sun has been superimposed onto the image. Colours have been altered, but nothing else has been added. The large white speckles and longer streaks are high-energy protons hitting the SOHO imager after being blasted at nearly the speed of light by the solar storm . The individual frames were taken every 10 seconds, so each row of snapshots corresponds to almost three and a half minutes of observations. Each frame shows a spectrum of the light coming from a small patch on the solar disc: the height of each frame measures 84 000 km, which is about a sixteenth of the sun’s diameter. In the first few frames of the series, the shape of the central bright region is roughly vertical, a sign that the underlying boundary was in a quiet state. After only a couple of minutes, however, the situation changed dramatically: towards the end of the first row and at the beginning of the second row, the shape of the bright region appears stretched towards the right. A pair of images taken the same day by different ultraviolet imagers are sandwiched together to make a kind of alien-shaped spacecraft. What appear to be shafts of light are in fact particles of the solar wind streaming out into space along open-ended magnetic field lines . A particularly complex and large coronal mass ejection on 4 January 2002 made even seasoned solar physicists gasp with awe. The LASCO C2 instrument observed the particles blasting out. Areas of white indicate the greatest intensity of matter; the reds somewhat less; blues, even less . Extreme ultraviolet images taken by the SOHO spacecraft come back to Earth in black and white. Then they are consistently colour coded for easy identification. One stunning image, taken in May 1998 image, shows a coronal mass ejection (CME) headed right towards Earth.  A CME is a massive burst of solar wind and magnetic fields rising above the solar corona or being released into space. An extreme ultraviolet image of the sun is shown here with an expanding cloud of particles heading out on all sides of the star. The cloud impacted Earth about two days later. This image of a rainbow was created by scientists attempting to measure the sun's interior. Tones of oscillating sound waves from the sun produce surface change on the star around every five minutes.  The nature and source of these oscillations was a mystery for many years after their discovery in 1962 . This is a wraparound 360 degree image of solar winds in the whole sky. Maps such as this can help scientists understand how solar winds behave at different altitudes . Another image shows a CME blasting billions of tonnes of matter at millions of kilometres per hour. The large white speckles and longer streaks are high-energy protons hitting the SOHO imager after being blasted at nearly the speed of light by the solar storm. A particularly complex and large coronal mass ejection on 4 January 2002 made even seasoned solar physicists gasp with awe. Scientists observed the particles blasting out. Areas of white in the image indicate the greatest intensity of matter; the reds somewhat less; blues, even less. This series of images, taken across nearly two decades, reveal the rapid changes in our sun in all its beauty and are now helping scientists understand what the future of our star might hold. The sun in extreme ultraviolet light is superimposed on a wide view of the sky around the sun. With the bright sun itself blocked, the star field beyond it comes into view. In this image, you can see bright plumes of solar wind and streamers emerging on both sides . A close-up of the filaments in this coronal mass ejection surprised scientists by exhibiting distinct twisting as they roared away from the sun in a tightly controlled pattern .
between these constantly moving cells are hectic ultraviolet image of the sun, and the artists nearly simultaneous images from three different images, published under the title ‘The sun as Art’, reveal a series of scientific observations performed with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) to understand our star. One and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) to study the tonnes of matter at millions of kilometres per . Extreme ultraviolet images taken by the SOHO surface change on the star around every five Another image shows a CME blasting billions of