Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) mission news

[mickw]

A new solar telescope, scheduled to launch this winter, will probe the sun's atmosphere and inner workings, helping scientists better understand how solar storms.

During its five-year mission, the Earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) will seek to reveal how the sun's magnetic field works, what governs the ups and downs of the solar cycle and how solar activity affects Earth.

"The sun is a magnetic variable star that fluctuates on times scales ranging from a fraction of a second to billions of years," said Madhulika Guhathakurta, lead program scientist for the Living With a Star program (of which SDO is a part) at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. "SDO will show us how variable the sun really is and reveal the underlying physics of solar variability."

More:   http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/091124-st-solar-dynamics-observatory.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+spaceheadlines+%28SPACE.com+Headline+Feed%29

[Rick]

Winds ground Solar observatory

Bad weather at Cape Canaveral, Florida, has prevented the US space agency from launching its latest Sun probe.

An Atlas rocket was due to carry the Solar Dynamics Observatory into orbit on Wednesday, but controllers abandoned the countdown because of high winds.

Nasa will try again on Thursday, with the lift-off now timed for 1023 local time (1523 GMT).

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8506140.stm

[mickw]

More entertaining that really scientific - When the Good Sun Goes Bad: The Halloween Flare-Up -

Movie:  Solar Flares

[Rick]

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) blasted off today at 15:23 GMT from Cape Canaveral following an aborted launch yesterday due to unfavourable wind conditions.

SDO was carried aloft by an Atlas V rocket (see pic) en route to its final inclined geosynchronous orbit at around 36,000 km from Earth. Once there, it will set about its five-year mission to "determine how the Sun's magnetic field is generated, structured, and converted into violent solar events like turbulent solar wind, solar flares, and Coronal Mass Ejections".

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/11/sdo_launch/

[mickw]

The sun unleashed two powerful solar eruptions today (Jan. 28) in a spectacular double blast caught on camera by a NASA spacecraft.

The twin solar storms occurred in concert and marked an impressive start for the 2011 space weatherseason.

A video recorded by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the two sun storms erupting from opposite sides of the star. Neither of the events posed a space weather threat to Earth or its satellites, NASA officials said.

More:   http://www.space.com/10712-sun-eruptions-double-flares.html

[Rick]

Sun Unleashes Strongest Flare Yet of 2012

A massive solar flare — the strongest one so far this year — erupted today (Jan. 27) from the same active region of the sun that triggered a raging solar tempest earlier this week.

The solar flare was rated an X1.7-class eruption, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). X-class flares are the most powerful type of solar storm, with M-class storms falling within the mid-range, and C-class flares being the weakest.

Several spacecraft, including NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and the Solar Heliospheric Observatory, observed the solar eruption, which occurred at 1:37 p.m. EST (1837 GMT). The flare unleashed a wave of charged particles, called a coronal mass ejection, but space weather experts said it was not aimed at Earth.

The flare exploded from sunspot 1402, a region on the sun that has been particularly active lately. Earlier this week, a separate blast from the same region sent a cloud of charged particles toward Earth and sparked the strongest radiation storm since 2003.

More: http://www.space.com/14387-biggest-solar-flare-2012-radiation-storm.html

[Carole]

All this activity and we're not in Iceland until 15th Feb !!!!

[Mike]

On that note.....

Solar-Storm-Fueled Auroras Make for Awesome Backyard Photography

[Whitters]

   

[Rick]

Sun Erupts with 3rd Huge Solar Flare in 2 Days

The sun is hitting its stride. Earth's closest star shot off yet another powerful solar flare today (June 11) after producing a pair of major solar storms Tuesday.

The X1-class flare reached its peak at 5:06 a.m. EDT (0906 GMT) and came from Region 2087 near the southeastern limb of the sun's disk, the same region of the star that produced the two powerful solar flares yesterday. NASA captured an amazing video of the X1 solar flare using its space-based Solar Dynamics Observatory.

More: http://www.space.com/26206-sun-erupts-3rd-huge-solar-flare.html

[jpchapman]

Didn't know where to put this but its breath-taking

As a nod to the 5th anniversary of the Solar Dynamics Observatory's launch, NASA has created and released a stunning five-year time-lapse of the sun.
The footage was captured by taking one frame every 8 hours from 2010 to 2015, with different colours representing different wavelengths.

http://youtu.be/GSVv40M2aks

Sorry don't know how to embed vids on here

[MarkH]

Excellent find John.

[Kenny]

That's awesome.

[Carole]

Totally awesome, thanks for the link.

Carole

[MarkS]

Lovely video!