Reefa Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) was launched five years ago on February 11th, 2010. To celebrate the five year anniversary of this solar research satellite, NASA has put together a pair of videos showcasing highlights from the SDO’s time observing the sun every minute of every day. It has sent back around 2,600 terabytes of data, so there was plenty of material for use in the videos.The first video is a time lapse of image data from the last five years. The SDO captures an image of the sun’s Earth-facing side almost once per second, which makes for a smooth video when you put it all together. Over the course of about three minutes, the images shift through different parts of the visible and ultraviolet spectrum. There’s also some relaxing ambient music in the background. NASA’s second homage to the Solar Dynamics Observatory is a slightly longer reel of specific events captured by the mission. I think this is the more impressive of the two because you can really get a feel for how much power the sun is putting out. Giant loops of plasma leap into space, massive sunspots boil on the surface, and magnetic currents ebb and flow. It’s strange to think these plumes of coronal material are so huge they could completely engulf Earth. This one has a suitably epic soundtrack — kind of LotR-ish. In its time observing the sun, the SDO has recorded some of the largest sunspots in decades and watched as solar flares dance at the edge of space. NASA designed the SDO to operate for 5-10 years, but if it’s anything like most missions, it will survive long past its intended lifetime. That’s a good thing — the longer the SDO is out there the more data we will gather about how the sun works. That could help us predict increased sunspot activity and dangerous solar flares.geek.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeforever03 Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Spectacular!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefa Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 Spectacular!!!Yeah mate i thought so to.. :cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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