Sure, our Sun is a source of unbridled energy, the centre of our Solar System and the reason for our very existence, but as this new time-lapse footage reveals, it's also a living, breathing, mesmerising fire beast in its own right. And we can't stop watching.
Composed of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory footage filmed between 2011 and 2015, Michael König's "SUN" captures a breath-taking solar activity in such close-up detail you'll think you were really there - including coronal rain, the transit of Venus and plenty of eruptions.
Some of this activity trickles down to affect us here on Earth, in the form of spectacular aurorae, geomagnetic storms and eclipses. But most of the time we humans are pretty naive to just how dynamic and ever-changing our home star really is.
So check out König's beautiful film above and feel humbled. And for those keeping score, below is a full list of the solar activity included in the time-lapse, taken from König's Vimeo page.
Scenes in order of appearance:
1. Long shots of solar activity | October 2013
2. Boiling solar prominence | February 2013
3. Close up active regions | October 2013
4. Launching filament | November 2011
5. Twisting prominence | September 2012
6. Close up solar activity | October 2014
7. Solar prominence | July 2013
8. Lunar transit | January 2014
9. Solar prominence dance | December 2012
10. Solar activity | October 2013
11. Plasma eruption | September 2012
12. Coronal rain | July 2012
13. Close up active regions | October 2013
14. Trebuchet eruption | February 2011
15. Solar prominence | October 2013
16. Venus transit | June 2012
17. Extreme solar eruption | June 2011
18. Filament eruption & 'canyon of fire' | September 2013
19. Erupting solar filament | March 2015
20. Comet 'lovejoy' passes sun | December 2011
21. Earth eclipse and dark prominence | September 2012
Source: Vimeo