For the past three years, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has tracked our sun as it approaches something called "solar maximum," which is the scientific term for the star's peak in solar activity each 11 years. The three-minute video above, which NASA released this week, shows the past three years at a rate of two images per day.
The sun also appears to slightly fluctuate in size in this clip, but that's simply a result of changes in distance between it and the SDO spacecraft taking the pics.
NASA calls out the following highlights from the video:
00:30;24 Partial eclipse by the moon
00:31;16 Roll maneuver
01:11;02 August 9, 2011 X6.9 Flare, currently the largest of this solar cycle
01:28;07 Comet Lovejoy, December 15, 2011
01:42;29 Roll Maneuver
01:51;07 Transit of Venus, June 5, 2012
02:28;13 Partial eclipse by the moon
If you want to nerd out even more, head over to the official NASA site here.
Homepage image courtesy NASA