00:00You've probably seen close-up images of the Sun before, revealing sunspots, solar storms,
00:09or something else entirely. But you've never seen the Sun quite like this. These images were
00:14recently captured by the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, the most powerful solar telescope on
00:19the planet. Each of these images has captured just 20 miles of the Sun's surface at a time.
00:23For reference, the Sun stretches some 865,370 miles across. But despite being the biggest thing
00:31around, a lot of what goes on in the Sun is still very much a mystery. After all, we can't just land
00:36there and have a look around. Meaning images like these are likely going to help us better understand
00:40with far more accuracy how our system's central star ebbs and flows, especially as we approach the
00:45Sun's 11-year solar maximum, or the period when its activity crescendos. Currently, scientists don't
00:51really know why the Sun goes through an 11-year solar cycle, or what causes sunspots. But it
00:55would behoove us to figure it out. Sunspots are where solar magnetic field lines snap and reconnect,
01:00sending coronal mass ejections out into space, some of which collide with our planet,
01:05causing electronic disruptions and sometimes gorgeous auroras.
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