On Jan. 29, the National Science Foundation released the highest resolution photos and videos of the sun’s surface ever taken.
The video, taken on Dec. 12, 2019, reveals that the surface of the sun moves, and it kind of looks like corn kernels.
The images were captured by the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope — named after the late Hawaii senator — at the National Solar Observatory, The Atlantic reported. The telescope is located atop Hawaii’s Haleakalā mountain and is largely regarded as the most powerful solar telescope in the world, according to The Verge.
The image covers an area of 18 miles — an impressive zoom considering the sun is 93 million miles away and each “kernel” is the size of Texas, CNET reported.
Those kernels are actually the result of the aggressive movements of plasma beneath the surface of the sun, and the borders between them indicate magnetic fields, the National Solar Observatory stated in the video description.
National Science Foundation Director David Boboltz said in a statement that he expects the Inouye solar telescope will lead to more new information about the sun in its first five years than all the data that has been gathered in the past combined.
According to The Atlantic, the Inouye telescope has its own cooling system to help it handle the heat it takes from staring at the sun.