Spacecraft captures photos of sun activity

WASHINGTON, July 12 (UPI) -- Cameras on a NASA spacecraft captured activity on the sun as powerful, glowing magnetic loops erupted from a solar hot spot, U.S. officials said.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the events in the extreme ultraviolet range of the light spectrum over several days beginning July 6, Space.com reported Monday.

The arcing loops are the routes taken by solar particles following ever-changing magnetic field lines on the surface of the sun, Space.com said. The arcing solar material appears blazing-white at the sun's surface, fading to a more dull orange near the top of the arcs.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory was launched in February on a planned five-year mission to study the sun in detail never achieved before, concentrating on solar storms that can be a risk to satellites and astronauts in space, Space.com reported.