The sun takes on a jewel-like quality in this video from NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio, which converts light at various wavelengths that are invisible to the human eye into images that humans can see. Watch as various features on the sun's surface appear and disappear depending on the wavelength range.

This video is based on data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, and SVS explains the differences between two of the types of light shown:

Yellow light of 5800 Angstroms, for example, generally emanates from material of about 10,000 degrees F (5700 degrees C), which represents the surface of the sun. Extreme ultraviolet light of 94 Angstroms, which is typically colorized in green in SDO images, comes from atoms that are about 11 million degrees F (6,300,000 degrees C) and is a good wavelength for looking at solar flares, which can reach such high temperatures.

NASA | Jewel Box Sun [NASA Goddard via Boing Boing]