Breathtaking footage of the Sun makes for stunning desktop backgrounds

I came across a video released by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory mission that I found so mesmerizing that I decided to create several wallpapers from it. After downloading the original UHD video file, I opened it in VLC and exported what I thought were the most dramatic and interesting frames.

They are all optimized for 16:9 4K (3840 x 2160) monitors, but given that they’re such high-resolution, they also look great on 5K displays, MacBooks, and iPad. You can download the full set as a zip file here.

I like these images enough that they are now in rotation with what I consider to be the most beautiful picture ever made: The Hubble Legacy Field, an image that combines nearly 7,500 Hubble exposures captured over the course of sixteen years, including some of the deepest images ever captured of the universe.

Thank you for continuing to inspire us, NASA.