Why Does NASA Observe The Sun in Different Colors?
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- Scientific consulting by:
- C. Alex Young and
- William D. Pesnell
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- Produced by:
- Joy Ng
- View full credits
The Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, spacecraft was launched on Feb. 11, 2010, and began collecting science data a few months later. With two imaging instruments – the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly and the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, which were designed in concert to provide complementary views of the Sun – SDO sees the Sun in more than 10 distinct wavelengths of light, showing solar material at different temperatures. SDO also measures the Sun’s magnetic field and the motion of solar material at its surface, and, using a technique called helioseismology, allows scientists to probe deep into the Sun's interior, where the Sun’s complex magnetic fields sprout from. And with more than a decade of observation under its belt, SDO has provided scientists with hundreds of millions of images of our star.
Music credits: “Swirling Blizzard” and “Endless Swirl” by Laurent Dury [SACEM] from Universal Production Music
Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.
Complete transcript available.
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Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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Scientists
- C. Alex Young (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
- William D. Pesnell (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
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Producer
- Joy Ng (KBR Wyle Services, LLC) [Lead]
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Support
- Mara Johnson-Groh (Wyle Information Systems)
Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Related Pages
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ID: 4907 Visualization
A Big Sunspot from Solar Cycle 24
Read moreA large sunspot rotates across the view in SDO/HMI || BigSunspot_HMIintensity_stand.HD1080i.00300_print.jpg (1024x576) [50.6 KB] || BigSunspot_HMIintensity_stand.HD1080i.00300_searchweb.png (320x180) [21.8 KB] || BigSunspot_HMIintensity_stand.HD1080i.00300_thm.png (80x40) [2.6 KB] || frames/1920x1080_16x9_30p/ (1920x1080) [64.0 KB] || BigSunspot_HMIintensity.HD1080i_p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [29.1 MB] || BigSunspot_HMIintensity.HD1080i_p30.webm (1920x1080) [2.2 MB] || frames/3840x2160_16x9_30p/ (3840x2160) [64.0 KB] || BigSunspot_HMIintensity.UHD2160_p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [171.4 MB] ||
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ID: 13860 Produced Video
Animation of USPS Stamps Featuring NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory
Read moreThe U.S. Postal Service illuminates the light and warmth of our nearest star by highlighting these stunning images of the Sun on stamps. These images come from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, a spacecraft launched in February 2010 to keep a constant watch on the Sun.The Sun is the only star that humans are able to observe in great detail, making it a vital source of information about the universe. The Solar Dynamics Observatory lets us see the Sun in wavelengths of ultraviolet light that would otherwise be invisible to our eyes. Each black-and-white image is colorized to the bright hues seen here.The stamps highlight different features on the Sun that help scientists learn about how our star works and how its constantly churning magnetic fields create the solar activity we see. Sunspots, coronal holes and coronal loops, for example, can reveal how those magnetic fields dance through the Sun and its atmosphere. Observing plasma blasts and solar flares can help us better understand and mitigate the impact of such eruptions on technology in space.The Sun Science stamps are being issued as Forever stamps, which will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 1-ounce price. ||
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ID: 13870 Produced Video
See the Sun like never before! Science of the Sun Shines Bright With New Stamps Showcasing Stunning Images From NASA’s Spacecraft Live Shots
Read moreFind out more about the Sun on social media @NASASun and online at www.nasa.gov/sunearrthQuick link to associated B-R0LLQuick link to canned interview with DR. ALEX YOUNGQuick link to canned interview in Spanish with YAIRESKA COLLADO-VEGA || sdo_banner.jpg (1480x594) [580.7 KB] || sdo_banner_print.jpg (1024x410) [368.9 KB] || sdo_banner_searchweb.png (320x180) [112.7 KB] || sdo_banner_thm.png (80x40) [25.4 KB] ||
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ID: 4909 Visualization
Monster Solar Filament Launch and CME
Read moreLaunch of the filament at low cadence (36 seconds) as visible in the 304 Angstrom filter on SDO/AIA. || FilamentLaunch2012-Slow_304A_stand.HD1080i.00876_print.jpg (1024x576) [134.4 KB] || FilamentLaunch2012-Slow_304A_stand.HD1080i.00876_searchweb.png (320x180) [48.3 KB] || FilamentLaunch2012-Slow_304A_stand.HD1080i.00876_thm.png (80x40) [4.1 KB] || frames/1920x1080_16x9_30p/FilamentLaunch2012-Slow_304A/ (1920x1080) [256.0 KB] || FilamentLaunch2012-Slow_304A_stand.HD1080i_p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [85.3 MB] || FilamentLaunch2012-Slow_304A_stand.HD1080i_p30.webm (1920x1080) [7.0 MB] || FilamentLaunch2012-Slow_304A_stand.UHD2160_p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [477.3 MB] || frames/3840x2160_16x9_30p/FilamentLaunch2012-Slow_304A.UHD/ (3840x2160) [256.0 KB] ||
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ID: 4117 Visualization
Solar Dynamics Observatory - Argo view
Read moreArgos (or Argus Panoptes) was the 100-eyed giant in Greek mythology (wikipedia).While the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has significantly less than 100 eyes, (see "SDO Jewelbox: The Many Eyes of SDO"), seeing connections in the solar atmosphere through the many filters of SDO presents a number of interesting challenges. This visualization experiment illustrates a mechanism for highlighting these connections.The wavelengths presented are: 617.3nm optical light from SDO/HMI. From SDO/AIA we have 170nm (pink), then 160nm (green), 33.5nm (blue), 30.4nm (orange), 21.1nm (violet), 19.3nm (bronze), 17.1nm (gold), 13.1nm (aqua) and 9.4nm (green).We've locked the camera to rotate the view of the Sun so each wedge-shaped wavelength filter passes over a region of the Sun. As the features pass from one wavelength to the next, we can see dramatic differences in solar structures that appear in different wavelengths.Filaments extending off the limb of the Sun which are bright in 30.4 nanometers, appear dark in many other wavelengths.Sunspots which appear dark in optical wavelengths, are festooned with glowing ribbons in ultraviolet wavelengths.Small flares, invisible in optical wavelengths, are bright ribbons in ultraviolet wavelengths.If we compare the visible light limb of the Sun with the 170 nanometer filter on the left, with the visible light limb and the 9.4 nanometer filter on the right, we see that the 'edge' is at different heights. This effect is due to the different amounts of absorption, and emission, of the solar atmosphere in ultraviolet light.In far ultraviolet light, the photosphere is dark since the black-body spectrum at a temperature of 5700 Kelvin emits very little light in this wavelength. ||
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ID: 11203 Produced Video
SDO: Year 3
Read moreOn 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. ||
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ID: 3982 Visualization
The Active Sun from SDO: 211 Ångstroms
Read moreThe Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) observes the Sun with many different instruments, in many different wavelengths of light. Many of these capabilities are not possible for ground-based observatories - hence the need for a space-based observing platform.This movie is generated for a wavelength of 211 Ångstroms (21.1 nanometers) which highlights a spectral line emitted by iron atoms that have lost 13 electrons (also known as iron-14 or Fe XIV) at temperatures of 2,000,000 K. These images show hotter, active regions in the sun's corona.This visualization is one of a set of visualizations (others linked below) covering the same time span of 17 hours over the full wavelength range of the mission. They are setup to play synchronously on a Hyperwall, or can be run individually.The images are sampled every 36 seconds, 1/3 of the standard time-cadence for SDO. This visualization is useful for illustrating how different solar phenomena, such as sunspots and active regions, look very different in different wavelengths of light. These differences enable scientists to study them more completely, with an eventual goal of improving Space Weather forecasting. ||
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