Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
At the beginning of February, 2026, an extremely dynamic active region on the Sun rotated into view of Earth. For nearly two weeks, this active region, designated AR4366, produced intense solar flares. These eruptions were observed by multiple spacecraft, including NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).
Launched in 2010, SDO monitors the Sun continuously in 10 wavelengths of light. This video shows the Sun from Feb. 1–9 in extreme ultraviolet light at 171 angstroms. This wavelength reveals the Sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, at temperatures of about 600,000 kelvin (roughly 1 million degrees Fahrenheit, or about 540,000 degrees Celsius). The imagery highlights bright, looping arcs of hot plasma shaped by powerful magnetic fields rising from AR4366. These magnetic fields store and release energy that drives solar flares and other solar activity. During the span of this video, AR4366 produced six X-class flares — the most powerful category — and 75 M-class flares, the next strongest level.
As the active region crossed the Sun’s disk, it offered a striking view of the Sun’s magnetic complexity and the dynamic forces that shape space weather throughout the solar system.
This video condenses nine days of solar activity into 12 minutes, playing 1,080 times faster than real time. Shorter versions that are 3,240 and 9,720 times faster than real time are available for download at svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14972.
Music Credit: “Atomic Drift,” “Echoes of the Unknown,” and “Particle Reverie” from the album Molecular Echoes. Written and produced by Lars Leonhard.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scott Wiessinger (eMITS): Producer
AJ Christensen (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Visualizer
Miles S. Hatfield (Telophase): Science Writer
This video can be freely shared and downloaded at svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14972. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14972. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/.
If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: youtube.com/NASAGoddard
Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
· Instagram: instagram.com/nasagoddard
· X: twitter.com/NASAGoddard
· Facebook: facebook.com/NASAGoddard
· Flickr: flickr.com/photos/gsfc
At the beginning of February, 2026, an extremely dynamic active region on the Sun rotated into view of Earth. For nearly two weeks, this active region, designated AR4366, produced intense solar flares. These eruptions were observed by multiple spacecraft, including NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).
Launched in 2010, SDO monitors the Sun continuously in 10 wavelengths of light. This video shows the Sun from Feb. 1–9 in extreme ultraviolet light at 171 angstroms. This wavelength reveals the Sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, at temperatures of about 600,000 kelvin (roughly 1 million degrees Fahrenheit, or about 540,000 degrees Celsius). The imagery highlights bright, looping arcs of hot plasma shaped by powerful magnetic fields rising from AR4366. These magnetic fields store and release energy that drives solar flares and other solar activity. During the span of this video, AR4366 produced six X-class flares — the most powerful category — and 75 M-class flares, the next strongest level.
As the active region crossed the Sun’s disk, it offered a striking view of the Sun’s magnetic complexity and the dynamic forces that shape space weather throughout the solar system.
This video condenses nine days of solar activity into 12 minutes, playing 1,080 times faster than real time. Shorter versions that are 3,240 and 9,720 times faster than real time are available for download at svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14972.
Music Credit: “Atomic Drift,” “Echoes of the Unknown,” and “Particle Reverie” from the album Molecular Echoes. Written and produced by Lars Leonhard.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scott Wiessinger (eMITS): Producer
AJ Christensen (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Visualizer
Miles S. Hatfield (Telophase): Science Writer
This video can be freely shared and downloaded at svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14972. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14972. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/.
If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: youtube.com/NASAGoddard
Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
· Instagram: instagram.com/nasagoddard
· X: twitter.com/NASAGoddard
· Facebook: facebook.com/NASAGoddard
· Flickr: flickr.com/photos/gsfc
