August 31, 2012 Magnificent CME

On Feb. 11, 2010, NASA launched an unprecedented solar observatory into space. The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) flew up on an Atlas V rocket, carrying instruments that scientists hoped would revolutionize observations of the sun. If all went according to plan, SDO would provide incredibly high-resolution data of the entire solar disk almost as quickly as once a second. When the science team released its first images in April of 2010, SDO s greatest hits as captured by the Solar Dynamic Observatory from February 2012 to February 2013. Music: Mistake (Davide Rossi Re-Work - Instrumental) courtesy of Moby Gratis.For complete transcript, click here. Blended 131 angstrom and 171 angstrom images of July 19, 2012 flare and CME. Blended images in 304 and 171 angstrom wavelength light of August 31, 2012 prominence eruption and CME. December 31, 2012 prominence in 304 angstrom light. For More InformationSee [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/news/sdo-year3.html](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/news/sdo-year3.html)

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) observed a large filament eruption on August 31, 2012. This visualization was generated using high time resolution (12 seconds) data from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA). Two datasets are used, the SDO/AIA 304 ngstrom wavelength (gold color table). These are wavelengths in the ultraviolet band of the electromagnetic spectrum. They are not visible to the human eye or to ground-based telescopes so coded colors are used in presentation.It is the source material for 4Kx4K frames.

Material hovering in the sun s SDO and STEREO missions and the joint ESA/NASA SOHO mission each captured views of the eruption. Scientists observe the eruption in multiple wavelengths to see solar material at different temperatures. Material ejected from the sun dwarfs Earth (inserted above and shown to scale for comparison). Beautiful aurorae, as seen in this photo taken near Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, filled the night sky on Sep. 3, 2012 as a result of the eruption. For More InformationSee [NASA.gov](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/News090412-filament.html)