As a part of NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, the Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite took photos of the sun for a whole year and combined them into one picture. The result is a sun with nothing but solar flares all around.

 

The photo looks like it was taken mid-explosion (if the sun ever did explode), with the center exploding outward with the top and bottom to soon follow. However, that actually isn’t what’s happening exactly. The satellite captured a year’s worth of solar flares and storms and compiled them into one gigantic photo (you can also view the high-res 4K version as well).