The Sun, Seen as a Rainbow of Spinning Colors in New NASA Video

Holiday lights adorning houses and buildings are not the only bright colors around this time of year.

NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio at the Goddard Space Flight Center just published a video that depicts the Sun in a colorful kaleidoscope of different light wavelengths.

As the light filters cycle from infrared to ultraviolet and onto other wavelengths, the Sun appears as a fiery rainbow quite unlike anything it would look like to the naked eye.

As you're watching the video, note how a change in the light wavelength you're seeing the Sun through changes what you see. Areas muted by some filters come alive in others.

The different wavelengths convey to scientists different information about the components of the Sun's surface and its atmosphere.

For example, yellow light at 5,800 Angstroms typically emanates from material at a temperature of 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,700 Celsius), which is what is seen on the Sun's surface. But at 94 Angstroms, extreme ultraviolet light - typically colorized in green - is the best way to observe solar flares, which can be as hot as 11 million degrees Fahrenheit (6.3 million C).

"By examining pictures of the sun in a variety of wavelengths - as is done not only by [the Solar Dynamics Observatory], but also by NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory and the European Space Agency/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory -- scientists can track how particles and heat move through the sun's atmosphere," NASA said in a statement accompany the video.