This Timelapse Video Shows How Our Sun Has Changed Over 10 Years

To all of us on earth, the sun may not seem very dynamic. Aside from hiding behind clouds, and creating beautiful sunsets and sunrises, the sun might seem pretty much the same every day. But you might be surprised to learn that the sun has changed a lot over time.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) celebrated its 10-year anniversary by releasing a timelapse of the gigantic star’s activity over the course of a decade. The organization is dedicated to observing the sun and have taken 425 million high-resolution images since June 2010, according to Thrillist.

Using a number of instruments, the organization captured these images every 0.75 seconds, according to a statement by NASA. The timelapse shows photos taken at a wavelength of 17.1 nanometers, according to NASA, “which is an extreme ultraviolet wavelength.”

NASA’s video specifies that every second of the timelapse represents one day between June 2010 and June 2020. The massive amounts of photos put together in a long stream make the sun look like it’s positively glittering, with a few blips in the timelapse –— but don’t panic when you see those.

“The dark frames in the video are caused by Earth or the Moon eclipsing SDO as they pass between the spacecraft and the Sun,” NASA said in the statement. “A longer blackout in 2016 was caused by a temporary issue with the AIA instrument that was successfully resolved after a week. The images where the Sun is off-center were observed when SDO was calibrating its instruments.”

You can also see a cycle of explosive solar spots and flares that get more frequent and then eventually get calmer over time, Thrillist reported.

This footage is truly unique, since this view of the sun is not observable on earth. And it’s generally considered a bad thing to stare into the sun in real life.

Watch the full video on YouTube.