Solar Dynamics Observatory: Exploring The Sun

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The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) will provide a new eye on the sun that will deliver solar images with 10 times better resolution than high-definition television. This mission will zoom in on the cause of severe space weather—solar activity such as sunspots, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections.

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Space weather can pose a threat to astronauts as well as to aircraft crews flying over Earths northern and southern polar regions—and thats just the tip of the iceberg. Satellite communications, navigation systems, and electrical power to our homes can all be disrupted by magnetic storms triggered by solar activity.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is the first mission to be launched for NASAs Living With a Star (LWS) program. The goal of the LWS program is to develop the scientific understanding necessary to effectively address those aspects of the sun and solar system that directly affect life and society.

This mission was developed and will be managed by NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. SDO is a 5-year mission that will determine how the suns magnetic field is generated, structured, and converted into violent solar events like turbulent solar wind, solar flares, and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs).

The solar wind is a continuous stream of electrically charged particles that flow from the sun and fill the solar system with charged particles and magnetic fields. Solar flares are explosions in the suns atmosphere, with the largest equal to billions of one-megaton nuclear bombs.

CMEs are eruptions from the solar atmosphere that release billions of tons of solar material into interplanetary space at millions of miles per hour. All these phenomena are collectively called space weather.

By improving our understanding of the solar activity that powers severe space weather, SDO will enable us to improve predictions of solar storms and provide information necessary to protect our technological systems.

SDO will observe the sun, from its deep interior to the outermost layers of solar atmosphere, at the highest ever time cadence. SDO will snap a full disk image in 8 wavelengths every 10 seconds. This rapid cadence led to placing the satellite into an inclined geosynchronous orbit.

This allows for a continuous, high-data-rate contact with a dedicated ground station at the White Sands Complex in southern New Mexico. SDO will send down about 1.5 terabytes of data per day, equivalent to downloading half a million songs each day.

SDOs spatial resolution gives it a tremendous advantage over earlier missions. All solar images will be 4096 pixels x 4096 pixels—almost IMAX quality—providing details of the sun and its features that have rarely been seen before.

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

Science & Technology

Tags:

• solar
• dynamics
• observatory
• sdo
• exploring
• sun
• nasa
• images
• high
• definition
• resolution
• missions
• space
• weather
• activity
• sunspots
• flares
• astronauts
• earth
• satellites
• magnetic
• storms
• system

[obaeyens]

@SilverGunZoO You should by now know that 2012 is fake. There is no relationship between a solar and 2012. It is as stupid as saying that on 21 december 2012, one side of the earth will be colder and the other side will be warmer.

Solar flares happen all the time, and too random to predict more than a few days before.

[TritonAlias]

But all that aside, let's just assume you and your pal Geryl are 100% correct. Hundreds of millions if not billions of people will die. Even with foreknowledge of the likely cataclysms to come, your statistical chance of survival would be incredibly low, and so would mine. In all likelihood we'll both die and this argument will be a moot point.

If you believed this bullshit, you'd be off making the best of your last year on Earth, not arguing with people over YT about it.

You're just a troll.

[Demiurge13]

@Pirwzwhomper

i don't believe it either, but after reading your comment, I would love for something to happen just because you are an asshole.

[Spirito2008]

@Pirwzwhomper I think they just mis-interpreted it... the mayans never said apocalypse...it's just then end of their calenders.. like out 12 month calender, there's needed to be readjusted every 5k years...

[Israylite4EVER]

cg

[doowop62]

Does this mean you are finally going to reveal the true photosphere activity of entities and horses on the Sun. After all they permeate our Galaxy and cannot truly be hidden forever. I found them easy enough. All I did was study K O Kiepenheuer lectures and other astrophysicist of early venue. The classification of this information is very old and serves no purpose for censorship.

Dave

Dave



[doomlordkaka]

@jmthetank actually..plz dont think im a douche... they did think it was doomsday/ end of an age. i do the / because they believed every age ended with an apocalyptic occurance- it was their religion. im not saying 2012 will happen by any means- but no one can answer how they had the most sophisticated and accurate calender to date so their beliefs shouldn't be discarded so hastily.

[madedigital]

why don t they re design the giga camera to a motion camera?

[oliverft82]

meh.

[TritonAlias]

I'm going to say I don't think you know what 'confirmed' means. Confirmation of a complex mathematical simulation's resulting prediction about a current, real world change would be easy--measure it. In this case, the 1.26 millionths of a second per day change in rotation rate is so small we can't measure it. Richard Gross, the scientist who used the model to simulate the effects of the earthquake, said even our most careful measurements are not accurate below 5 millionths of a second.

[Pindol1]

Again...Have you heard the latest news CONFIRMED OFFICIALLY BY NASA?? The earthquake in Chile harmed axis of the Earth,and the days because of that will be shorter-Geryl in general was talking abou that in his books...Also all those earthquakes will influence in about 12 months time in the mass eruption of the vulcanos-again that is OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED by NASA,and Geryl was talking about that..What you gonna say now matey??