Solarium - Resource Page

  • Released Thursday, February 5, 2015
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A child looks up at Solarium at the Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.Photo Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

A child looks up at Solarium at the Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Photo Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Solarium — a site specific, ultra-HD video installation — puts you directly in the heart of a mesmerizing show. The art taps into a vast reservoir of imagery from a NASA spacecraft, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).

SDO watches the Sun in ultratraviolet light that is invisible to the naked eye. SDO takes a picture of the full disc of the Sun almost once a second. Each image has eight times as much resolution as an HD TV. The observatory records the solar images as a binary code, ones and zeros, which computer programs can translate into black-and-white pictures. Video producers can take these thousands of frames and treat them as footage, applying a cinematic tone conveyed through color correction, cropping, and applied camera movements.

For b-roll of SDO footage, please see related media at the bottom of this page.

A child looks up at Solarium at the Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.Photo Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

A child looks up at Solarium at the Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Photo Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Standing in front of Solarium at the Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.Photo Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Standing in front of Solarium at the Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Photo Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Solarium at the Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.Photo Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Solarium at the Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Photo Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Still image of the entrance to Solarium at the Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.Photo Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Still image of the entrance to Solarium at the Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Photo Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

The silhouette of a child in Solarium at the Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.Photo Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

The silhouette of a child in Solarium at the Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Photo Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Solarium B-Roll Reel

Video Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Concept art of Solarium at the Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Cropped concept art of Solarium.

Cropped concept art of Solarium.

Solarium at The Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona. Solarium was included in "Astronomical: Photographs of Our Solar System and Beyond," January 31, 2015 to May 17, 2015.Photo Credit: Joseph Rheaume and Allie Smith, Center for Creative Photography.

Solarium at The Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona. Solarium was included in "Astronomical: Photographs of Our Solar System and Beyond," January 31, 2015 to May 17, 2015.

Photo Credit: Joseph Rheaume and Allie Smith, Center for Creative Photography.

A crowd looks at Solarium in February 2015 at the Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt, MD.Photo Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

A crowd looks at Solarium in February 2015 at the Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt, MD.

Photo Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

A child in a 35 foot wide Solarium at Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton, VA.

A child in a 35 foot wide Solarium at Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton, VA.

A man poses in front of a single wall Solarium at the 2015 World Science Festival in New York, NY.

A man poses in front of a single wall Solarium at the 2015 World Science Festival in New York, NY.

Students in Solarium at the Filmatic Festival in May 2016 in San Diego, California. Photo Credit: Alex Matthews, Qualcomm Institute/UC San Diego

Students in Solarium at the Filmatic Festival in May 2016 in San Diego, California. Photo Credit: Alex Matthews, Qualcomm Institute/UC San Diego

A man watches Solarium at The American Museum of Natural History in March 2016 in New York, New York. Photo Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Genna Duberstein

A man watches Solarium at The American Museum of Natural History in March 2016 in New York, New York. Photo Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Genna Duberstein

A man cheers at a Solarium installation in Nashville, TN, in August 2017. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Genna Duberstein

A man cheers at a Solarium installation in Nashville, TN, in August 2017. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Genna Duberstein

Three women watch a Solarium installation in Nashville, TN, in August 2017.

Three women watch a Solarium installation in Nashville, TN, in August 2017.

People watch a Solarium installation in Nashville, TN, in August 2017.

People watch a Solarium installation in Nashville, TN, in August 2017.

For More Information

See http://www.nasa.gov/solarium

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

This page was originally published on Thursday, February 5, 2015.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:50 PM EDT.

Missions

This visualization is related to the following missions: