Photographer captures mesmerizing timelapse of a sun storm leaving the world awestruck

There is nothing more beautiful than nature. Time and again, nature has blessed humans with majestic and captivating views. Recently, the sun went through its peak activity in the 11-year solar cycle, which led to dreamy and fiery captures by Miguel Claro—who goes by @miguel_claro on Instagram—a Portugal-based astrophotographer, per My Modern Met. The video shows a solar storm taking place on the sun's surface. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, solar storms happen when a large-scale magnetic eruption, often causing a coronal mass ejection and associated solar flare, accelerates charged particles in the solar atmosphere to very high velocities. The timelapse captured by Claro shows flares from the sun dancing with each other, which is bound to make anyone gasp with wonder.

It was not Claro's first attempt at capturing the beauty of the sun at its peak. On June 5, he attempted to capture the sun in that position from Portugal but unfortunately was able to only get some snaps. He knew that to capture the whole phenomenon in all its glory, a timelapse was the best alternative but was unable to make it happen. One of the biggest problems he faced during that time for completing his objective was the unstable weather. Every time he tried to capture a timelapse, he had to contend with low dense clouds hovering over the sun. Ultimately, he had to be satisfied with some beautiful pictures. In his post, he wrote, "The image features an eruptive prominence swirling near the Active Region 13327 and below, a large filament hovering over the chromosphere."

The photographer added that he was not done with his pursuit and would try to capture a timelapse to showcase the sun's movement. His dream came true on October 12, 2023, when he was finally able to get a timelapse. The timelapse presented many interesting features to the viewers, such as "eruptive prominences, filaments, active regions with minor flares, small spicules dancing like hair in the wind, and a delicate waved line of plasma floating hundreds of kilometers above the sun's surface, stuck by the strong magnetic fields until has been released into space in a blink of an eye." The video reveals what occurs in the chromosphere when the sun is rotating over 3 hours.

Also, it is not the first time the photographer has captured nature at its finest. His previous work includes processing the annular solar eclipse. Though not able to capture the image himself, the photographer was able to process the available data to make the celestial body look "a bit fancy, different, and less conventional." He has also worked extensively on the moon, capturing it at its golden phase from a marble exploration in Alandroal, Dark Sky. He had to time this capture perfectly as the phase lasted only a couple of minutes, after which the moon again went into the clouds.

The comment section was in awe of the magnificent sun captured in the timelapse. @jamesandchips was spellbound by the whole vision and wrote, "It's magical, absolutely breathtaking." @miguelcouto.eu believes his content requires more attention and commented, "This is awesome, Miguel. Sadly, the IG algorithm favors fast food content instead of this beauty." @jjlodge appreciated the photographer and wrote, "That's incredible, Miguel."