Most of us think of the Sun as a bright and featureless disk.

http://windows.engin.umich.edu/spaceweather/suntoday.html
Movie of a spectacular flare taken on April 7, 1997

http://vestige.lmsal.com/TRACE/Public/Gallery/Images/
TRACE image gallery

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970918.html
On August 27, 1997 twisting magnetic fields propelled this huge eruptive prominence a 100,000 miles above the Sun's surface.