SDO: Year 3

  • Released Monday, February 11th, 2013
  • Updated Tuesday, November 14th, 2023 at 12:18AM
  • ID: 11203

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 data exceeded everyone's hopes and expectations, providing stunningly detailed views of the sun. In the three years since then, SDO's images have continued to show breathtaking pictures and movies of eruptive events on the sun. Such imagery is more than just pretty, they are the very data that scientists study. By highlighting different wavelengths of light, scientists can track how material on the sun moves. Such movement, in turn, holds clues as to what causes these giant explosions, which, when Earth-directed, can disrupt technology in space.

SDO is the first mission in a NASA's Living With a Star program, the goal of which is to develop the scientific understanding necessary to address those aspects of the sun-Earth system that directly affect our lives and society. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. built, operates, and manages the SDO spacecraft for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.

SDO: Year One here.

SDO: Year 2 here.

Information about the individual clips used in this video is here.

Watch this video on YouTube.

The sun'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 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.

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.

December 31, 2012 prominence in 304 angstrom light.

For More Information

See http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/news/sdo-year3.html

Credits

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

Missions

This visualization is related to the following missions:

Series

This visualization can be found in the following series:

Tapes

This visualization originally appeared on the following tapes:
  • SDO: Year 3 (ID: 2013019)
    Monday, February 11, 2013 at 5:00AM
    Produced by - Robert Crippen

Datasets used in this visualization

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