Magnificent up-close pictures of the Sun, taken by NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and ESA’s Solar Orbiter, showcase its intense heat and active magnetic structures.

This strange, constantly shifting terrain is how the Sun seems up close. The change from the Sun’s lower atmosphere to its considerably hotter outer corona was captured on camera by the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter. The charged gas, or plasma, that makes up the hair-like formations follows magnetic field lines that emerge from the Sun’s interior.

The brightest areas are approximately one million degrees Celsius, whereas cooler materials absorb radiation to appear black.

The Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) sensor on board Solar Orbiter captured this video on September 27, 2023. The spacecraft was traveling toward its closest approach of 27 million miles (43 million km) on October 7, 2023, at a distance of about one-third of Earth’s distance from the Sun.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe skimmed about 4.51 million miles (7.26 million kilometers) from the solar surface on the day that this footage was taken. Parker measures the magnetic field and particles in the solar wind and corona of the Sun instead than photographing it directly. With the ESA-led Solar Orbiter monitoring the solar wind’s source region, which would later flow past Parker Solar Probe, this was an ideal opportunity for the two missions to collaborate.

Look for the Rain, Spores, Eruption, and Moss

Bright gas that forms subtle, lace-like patterns over the Sun may be seen in the lower left corner. We refer to this as coronal “moss.” When using the selected instrument settings, it typically appears around the base of huge coronal loops that are either too hot or too tenuous to be detected.

On the solar horizon: The Sun’s chromosphere is home to gas spires known as spicules. The highest point these can reach is 10,000 km (6,200 miles).

Around 0:22, there is a minor eruption in the center of the field of vision, during which cooler material is lifted and then generally descends down. The word “small” is being used here to mislead you—this explosion is larger than Earth!

to the center-left at 0:30: Large coronal loops (about one million degrees Celsius) provide a dazzling backdrop against which “cool” coronal rain (likely less than 10,000 °C / 18,000 °F) seems gloomy. Higher-density plasma clumps that are drawn back towards the Sun by gravity make up the rain.