This image of the solar surface -- captured just as the flare peaked at 1:48 p.m. EDT, by the Solar Optical Telescope on the Japan Aerospace and Exploration Agency's and NASA's Hinode spacecraft – is what's called a magnetogram. The dark spots show where magnetic field lines travel in to the sun and the light regions show where they travel out. The intense white line on the left and the lower dark U-shape on the right, represent the footprints of the flare. Using these magnetograms, researchers were able to map the magnetic field's strength and direction change just before a flare in one of the highest resolution and best data sets ever gathered. Credit: JAXA/NASA/Hinode