Spectacular close-up moving images of the Sun have been captured by Nasa's solar observing satellite, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).

Nasa is working with the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) to unravel the mysteries of the Sun in unprecedented detail by watching its magnetic field and corona.

The images are 10 times the quality of high definition television.

UCLan is one of the European data centres for the observatory, and the only one in the UK to provide continuous pictures of what is happening inside, on the surface and in the atmosphere of the Sun.

The satellite's telescopes will take 80 images of the Sun every minute, creating the equivalent of 1.5 terabytes of data each day. The amount of information that UCLan will process is equal in size to downloading half a million iTunes songs per day.

As well as being of scientific research interest, the pictures will be used as inspiration by digital artist Chris Meigh-Andrews, Professor of Electronic and Digital Art at UCLan. The colours change due to the different light filters used by the observatory.