This 'smiling sun' optical illusion is guaranteed to brighten your day

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It's out of this world.

A photograph of the sun appearing to smile
(Image credit: Nasa/Future)

Just when we think we've seen every kind of optical illusion possible, another mind-bending/blowing/frying example comes along. And this delightful offering comes courtesy of none other the the sun itself. 

The official NASA Twitter account has shared an image of the sun appearing to smile. It's all thanks to dark patches on the sun called coronal holes, regions where "fast solar wind gushes out into space" (presumably after the sun has eaten a large curry). And yep, it really does look like the sun is giving us a good old grin. Maybe the 'Sun With Face emoji' isn't so cartoonish after all. For more awesome examples, take a look at the best optical illusions of all time.

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A Tweet from NASA featuring an image in which the sun appears to smile
(Image credit: NASA)

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Daniel John
Daniel John
Design Editor

Daniel John is Design Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of design, branding and lifestyle tech, and has covered several industry events including Milan Design Week, OFFF Barcelona and Adobe Max in Los Angeles.