Astronomy Picture of the Day . Bright Points on the Quiet Sun . ... Explanation: Up close, the solar surface is a striking patch work of granules in this very high resolution picture of the quiet Sun . Caused by convection, the granules are hot, rising columns of plasma edged by dark lanes of cooler, descending plasma. ... Constantly present on the solar surface, the bright points do not seem to be related to sunspots that come and go with the magnetic solar cycle . ... Hole in the Sun . ...