Speckles on the Sun larger than Alaska

The surface of the Sun is covered in what scientists call "granules" — upwellings of plasma, which are caused by convection currents just the same way that colder, denser water sinks in the ocean or hot goo rises to the top of a lava lamp. The tops of these upwellings are responsible for making the surface of the Sun appear all pebbled and speckley. And, as this image from Wikimedia Commons shows, they are MASSIVE.
They are also helping scientists learn more about what happens inside the Sun's boiling heart, according to a story by Tom Yulsman at the ImaGeo blog.