Solar Dynamic Observatory Debutes Today

[MorningSong]

News from spaceweather.com

STUNNING IMAGES OF THE SUN: Take a deep breath. You may need it later today when NASA releases First Light images from the Solar Dynamic Observatory, which reveal the sun in better-than-IMAX detail. NASA insiders say the images are breathtaking, literally. Return here after 2:15 pm EDT for the unveiling.

From http://science.nasa.gov/science-news...010/05feb_sdo/

SDO is designed to probe solar variability unlike any other mission in NASA history. It will observe the sun faster, deeper, and in greater detail than previous observatories, breaking barriers of time-scale and clarity that have long blocked progress in solar physics.

SDO will record IMAX-quality images of the sun every 10 seconds using a bank of multi-wavelength telescopes called the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA).

SDO doesn't stop at the stellar surface. SDO's Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) can actually look inside the sun at the solar dynamo itself.

Here's the link to the SDO site:

http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

I'll bring the pop corn!

[Swami]

THX MorningSong,
I cant wait to see that first one......
What great times we live in...!

[rosie]

Thank you for putting this up! I had forgotten about this new observatory and can't wait to see the images. Will be bookmarking this site for sure.

[Swami]

From SDO.........



WAAAUUUUW.......

[Swami]

[Swami]

Don't hesitate to ask your questions.........



http://science.nasa.gov/ask-a-scientist/

...... and post them here at Avalon.......

[Swami]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=99skxXgxTCc

[Richard]

I have been waiting for SDO with baited breath since I watched the launch in February.
The quality of the images from this observatory will be so far beyond anything we've seen to date.

Here's a idea of what to expect...

[zelda]

Beautiful pics. Now, what about the EMC???

[Robstar]

The Sun (our sun), is such beautiful star.
Such much beauty and so much power.
Destroyer and life bearer, no wonder people worshiped it.
No matter what happens to us human beings, we live in a marvelous universe.
Besides our shortcomings, proud to call myself Human and Earthling.
This images are proof of that.

[Richard]

on Feb. 11th, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) lifted off from Cape Canaveral on a five-year mission to study the sun. Researchers have called the advanced spacecraft the "crown jewel" of NASA's heliophysics fleet. SDO will beam back IMAX-quality images of solar explosions and peer beneath the stellar surface to see the sun's magnetic dynamo in action. SDO is designed to amaze—and it got off to a good start.
"The observatory did something amazing before it even left the atmosphere," says SDO project scientist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center.

Moments after launch, SDO's Atlas V rocket flew past a sundog hanging suspended in the blue Florida sky and, with a rippling flurry of shock waves, destroyed it.

Click play on the video below to watch a video recorded by 13-year-old Anna Herbst at NASA's Banana River viewing site.


[mbed]http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2010/02/18/18feb_coolmovie_resources/anna-herbst1.mov[/mbed]

[MorningSong]

From spaceweather, new from SDO:

THE TREE OF AVATAR: NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is doing more than just taking crisp pictures of the sun. It is revealing our star as a place of intense and sometimes even alien beauty. In today's image, we see "The Tree of Avatar."



The trunk of the tree is a twisted, gnarly pillar of magnetism containing hundreds of millions of tons of relatively cool plasma. The canopy is a cloud of million-degree gas. As solar physicists watched this tree on April 19th, it exploded, producing one of the biggest eruptions in years:

The colors in the movie trace different temperatures. Reds are relatively cool (60,000 K - 80,000 K); blues and greens are hot (1,000,000 K - 2,200,000 K). The tree's cool trunk rapidly heats up as it rises into the blast, and the canopy cools down as it falls in pieces back to the sun. Go ahead and watch the movie again. Once is not enough!

http://spaceweather.com/

[premaswarupa]

Thanks a lot for this link. Images are great!