Magnetic map of the sun – amazing image

This was photo was taken by NASA. No surprise, huh? It was the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Compan, in fact, and it shows the magnetic field lines on the sun on August 20th in 2010.

NASA’s SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) is focused on helping us understand more about the sun. If you look at the map you can see some more details; white lines are fiels that are closed (not releasaing solar wind) and gold lines show open fields (which let solar wind escape). As you know; solar flares and solar storms do effect earth and so being able to track these conditions is actually very important.