What you are about to see is a time-lapse video capturing the sun’s activity over a span of 16 days in October. This remarkable video was created by the Solar Dynamics Observatory using over 17,000 images stitched together. One of the highlights is the appearance of a massive sunspot that emerges from the far right and slowly traverses the entire surface of the sun, spewing out spectacular solar flares along the way. This sunspot is the largest seen since 1990, and it’s so massive that it would take 10 Earths lined up side by side to cover its entire length.

To put things into perspective, the sun itself is so immense that if you were to place the entire United States on its surface, it would appear minuscule in comparison, almost invisible in the context of this video. For the best viewing experience, be sure to watch it in full screen. (via Kottke)

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