A NASA spacecraft captured a stunning video showing plasma spinning around in the sun's magnetic field earlier this month.

The video of the solar phenomenon was recorded by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, a satellite that constantly records high-definition videos of the sun. The tornados are caused by cooler plasma shifting back and forth above the solar surface. They can reach speeds of 480,000 km/h and can span hundreds of thousands of miles.

"In total length, this could be dozens of Earths - quite large," said Terry Kucera, an astronomer working on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. By comparison the strongest Earth tornadoes only clock wind speeds of 300 mph.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory, which was launched in February 2010, has several cameras aboard that can capture solar activity on different wavelengths and frequencies. The sun tornado video was captured over 30 hours on Feb. 7 and 8.

"An active region rotating into view provides a bright backdrop to the gyrating streams of plasma," SDO mission scientists said in a video description. "The particles are being pulled this way and that by competing magnetic forces. They are tracking along strands of magnetic field lines."

The video marks the second anniversary of the satellite's mission. The SDO satellite is on a five-year mission to record high-definition visions of the solar surface to help astronomers study the solar weather cycle.