SDO Resolution Comparison Resource Page

  • Released Monday, January 14th, 2013
  • Updated Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023 at 1:52PM
  • ID: 11167

Ultra High Definition, or 4k, TV has four times as many pixels as a high definition 1080 TV. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Its Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) instruments together capture an image almost once a second that is twice again as large as what the ultra high-def screens can display. Such detailed pictures show features on the sun that are as small as 200 miles across, helping researchers observe such things as what causes giant eruptions on the sun known as coronal mass ejections (CME) that can travel toward Earth and interfere with our satellites.

At one pixel captured to one pixel displayed, UHD and 1080 can only show part of the the overall image made by SDO in ten different wavelengths every 12 seconds.

At one pixel captured to one pixel displayed, UHD and 1080 can only show part of the the overall image made by SDO in ten different wavelengths every 12 seconds.

Ultra high-definition TVs have four times the pixels of a 1080 high-definition TV, but still have fewer pixels than the images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). This image from SDO was captured on Aug. 31, 2012.Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO

Ultra high-definition TVs have four times the pixels of a 1080 high-definition TV, but still have fewer pixels than the images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). This image from SDO was captured on Aug. 31, 2012.

Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO

Ultra high-definition TVs — sold for the first time in late 2012 and early 2013 —have four times the pixels of a current high-definition TV, but still have fewer pixels than the images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). This image from SDO was captured on Nov.13, 2012, and shows star-shaped solar flare in the lower left-hand corner. Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO

Ultra high-definition TVs — sold for the first time in late 2012 and early 2013 —have four times the pixels of a current high-definition TV, but still have fewer pixels than the images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). This image from SDO was captured on Nov.13, 2012, and shows star-shaped solar flare in the lower left-hand corner.

Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO

Comparison of SDO image resolution to television resolution and other sun-observing satellites.

Comparison of SDO image resolution to television resolution and other sun-observing satellites.

For More Information

See http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/news/ultra-hdtv.html

Credits

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

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