Tech | April 23, 2010 | 69 comments

NASA's New Eye on the Sun Delivers Stunning First Images

source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100421150815.htm

Image
Almibry
ScienceDaily (Apr. 22, 2010) — NASA's recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, is returning early images that confirm an unprecedented new capability for scientists to better understand our sun's dynamic processes. These solar activities affect everything on Earth

Some of the images from the spacecraft show never-before-seen detail of material streaming outward and away from sunspots. Others show extreme close-ups of activity on the sun's surface. The spacecraft also has made the first high-resolution measurements of solar flares in a broad range of extreme ultraviolet wavelengths.

"These initial images show a dynamic sun that I had never seen in more than 40 years of solar research," said Richard Fisher, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "SDO will change our understanding of the sun and its processes, which affect our lives and society. This mission will have a huge impact on science, similar to the impact of the Hubble Space Telescope on modern astrophysics."

Launched on Feb. 11, 2010, SDO is the most advanced spacecraft ever designed to study the sun. During its five-year mission, it will examine the sun's magnetic field and also provide a better understanding of the role the sun plays in Earth's atmospheric chemistry and climate. Since launch, engineers have been conducting testing and verification of the spacecraft's components. Now fully operational, SDO will provide images with clarity 10 times better than high-definition television and will return more comprehensive science data faster than any other solar observing spacecraft.

SDO will determine how the sun's magnetic field is generated, structured and converted into violent solar events such as turbulent solar wind, solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These immense clouds of material, when directed toward Earth, can cause large magnetic storms in our planet's magnetosphere and upper atmosphere.

SDO will provide critical data that will improve the ability to predict these space weather events. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., built, operates and manages the SDO spacecraft for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

"I'm so proud of our brilliant work force at Goddard, which is rewriting science textbooks once again." said Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., chairwoman of the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee that funds NASA. "This time Goddard is shedding new light on our closest star, the sun, discovering new information about powerful solar flares that affect us here on Earth by damaging communication satellites and temporarily knocking out power grids. Better data means more accurate solar storm warnings."

Space weather has been recognized as a cause of technological problems since the invention of the telegraph in the 19th century. These events produce disturbances in electromagnetic fields on Earth that can induce extreme currents in wires, disrupting power lines and causing widespread blackouts. These solar storms can interfere with communications between ground controllers, satellites and airplane pilots flying near Earth's poles. Radio noise from the storm also can disrupt cell phone service.

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69 comments // NASA's New Eye on the Sun Delivers Stunning First Images

  • diode
  • Almibry
  • Almibry
    • +2
      Almibry  
    • Image

    • http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1650.html

      Ring of Fire

      This new image from the Solar Dynamics Observatory’s Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) shows in great detail a solar prominence taken from a March 30, 2010 eruption. The twisting motion of the material is the most noticeable feature.

      Launched on Feb. 11, 2010, SDO is the most advanced spacecraft ever designed to study the sun. During its five-year mission, it will examine the sun's magnetic field and also provide a better understanding of the role the sun plays in Earth's atmospheric chemistry and climate. Since launch, engineers have been conducting testing and verification of the spacecraft’s components. Now fully operational, SDO will provide images with clarity 10 times better than high-definition television and will return more comprehensive science data faster than any other solar observing spacecraft.

      Image Credit: NASA/SDO/AIA

    • 2 years ago
  • diode
  • remanns
  • diode
  • mitekillem
    • 0
      mitekillem  

    • So maybe we'll get the real reason behind sun spots. I think either the sun is hollow, or it's full of dark matter. I don't buy the "official story", it just doesn't make sense. Everything on the sun is on fire, burning, and glowing, except for these odd spots that show up, every so often. First off, you can see that they sink into the sun, they're not just spots, they're holes. So, if I dig a hole in something that has lava beneath it, wouldn't I see lava?

      My theory...the sun is one giant (slow motion) plasma ball.

    • 2 years ago
  • Almibry
  • Armageddon_Now
  • Juan_Bueno
    • 0
      Juan_Bueno  

    • To much data from other starts and planets but what about knowledge about our own planet. Science still didn't explore the sea and understand the life cycle in oceans. Good to know that science help to know more about trivia and less about what really matters.

    • 2 years ago
  • Boom_King
  • inyourstory
    • +1
      inyourstory  
    • Juan_Bueno:

      I agree with you that very, very little is known about our own planet, especially the ocean....but the sun definitely matters - and understanding its processes is vitally important. Not only for our own planet, but this will give us valuable insight into the processes of other stars! What an exciting development for astronomy.

    • 2 years ago
  • Almibry
  • TasteHi
  • Gravity_Man
  • Stradius
    • 0
      Stradius  

    • It's amazing and powerful and how is it possible to avoid wonder at how lucky we are that it's there -- and far enough away. :-)

      Those extra vids you stuck in the post are pretty cool. Is that Helium and Ferris (iron) at different temperatures in Kelvin? These kinds of visuals are SO useful in helping put together pieces of knowledge.

      Now I wonder if the magnetic fields twisting in turmoil from the boiling heated Ferris are partially responsible for the flare loops and solar flares that blast us from time time. Is it a magnetic field overcome by the explosive force of a fusion reaction? Was the sun kick-started because a natural magnetic bottle effect allowed a reaction to occur between the basic elements in a controlled environment?

      Also, this same kind of churning boiling activity is going on in our planet as well... it's just that we have more matter of different elements so the turmoil is going much much slower. We only live on a thin skin of crust like mold growing on an orange.

    • 2 years ago
  • cefirak
  • remanns
  • GoldenHeart
  • CalgarC
  • JaneBond007
  • Kurta
    • +4
      Kurta  

    • Amazing! The sun never ceases to amaze me. The titanic scale of the processes is incomprehensible. You could fit something like a million earths inside the sun. A Million!!! Then think about the fact the sun is only an average sized star.

      I laugh every time I watch this video. To say that it puts things in perspective is an infinite understatement. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM0blsuCjlA

    • 2 years ago
  • Almibry
  • JETaylor
  • Kurta
  • Mark701
  • artemis6
  • artemis6
  • SupaDawg
    • +3
      SupaDawg  

    • Incredibly cool. I know we're in an era of great uncertainty concerning the future of manned exploration of space, but this is really the next best thing.

    • 2 years ago
  • JETaylor
  • cztheday
    • +1
      cztheday  

    • Nice post, Alimbry. As a boy, I was a science fiction fanatic and naively hoped that scientists and engineers would find some way around the lightspeed barrier so that humankind (OK, me in particular) could travel the stars. Little did I know that space exploration would largely fizzle out after the Moon Landing. But pictures like these sure spark some of that same old enthusiasm.

      Besides, it is refreshing to know that you have far-ranging interests beyond playing with your...um...cat...

    • 2 years ago
  • Almibry
    • +1
      Almibry  
    • cztheday:

      lmao Thank you for noticing. Unfortunately, news about space programs are going to become scarce soon because most of the new technologies are being developed by the Air Force and they're not so liberal with their information. I suppose that it's a good thing because the military has a much larger budget, but space is becoming the "New Frontier" and as cool as Star Wars is, the idea that we have infinite space to fight over is depressing.

    • 2 years ago
  • cztheday
    • +1
      cztheday  
    • Almibry:

      I thought I caught something in the paper earlier this week about a new telescope mounted on a 747 jet liner that will fly high enough in the atmosphere to capture "near-Hubble" quality images. At first I was appalled by the pollution output of something like that...but then I thought about the number of airline flights that occur in the world each day (a lot of those figures have been reported in the wake of that volcano in Iceland). I suppose that the marginal additional pollution from one 747 -- even one that flies 24/7 -- would be pretty small. I gather that effort is one of the few non-military ones.

      I always wanted to be Captain Kirk (albeit with better acting skills). Not only did he get to decide where everybody was going, he got a girl in every episode (hey, I was 13...).

    • 2 years ago
  • Almibry
  • cztheday
    • +1
      cztheday  
    • Almibry:

      Very cool. Some of the shots I find most fascinating are those that focus closer to the center of the Milky Way. With so many stars clustered so closely together (relatively speaking) it just seems like that would be the area where one might find life and the possibility of interstellar travel involving years instead of centuries. I understand that the nucleus might be so tightly packed with stars that the heat and other radiation might make life impossible, but coming out from the center perhaps the stars are crowded but more hospitable. Our quadrant seems so lonely by comparison (just us 6 billion humans...).

    • 2 years ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • cztheday:

      Appalled by what pollution from a 747?! How many times have I posted about them having a plane that compresses and decompresses HELIUM, flies through the air around the planet as long as their FOOD LASTS?

      Train a telescope on em with infrared see how much heat's coming out of the engines. hahahaha They can stay up there just as long as it takes to deliver their Payload to Beijing. You may as well call it a 747 GLIDER.

      They can glide right up the enemy's BVD's.

      Roads? Who needs roads?! Come on man, wise up. For the past 60+ YEARS inventors have been submitting patents then failed to get funding. The gov't and especially the military THAT PROTECTS AMERICANS has carte blanche open book privileges to develop those inventor's inventions for the benefit of Americans.

      Ditto on anything that gets Copyrighted. They take and use whatever they want, and they have come to want it all.

    • 2 years ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • Gravity_Man:

      The Truth Embargo is Real =>

      For the past 60+ YEARS inventors have been submitting patents then failed to get funding. The gov't and especially the military THAT PROTECTS AMERICANS has carte blanche open book privileges to develop those inventor's inventions for the benefit of Americans.

      Ditto on anything that gets Copyrighted. They take and use whatever they want, and they have come to want it all. Do they ever PAY the inventors who invented it? Hell no. Wake up.

      An inventor's ideas are Property of the State. Once an idea is sent to the Patent Office they have it, they use it, if they like you they might pay you, if they don't like you they don't. Like has happened to me. Don't you guys get it yet?

      If they know an inventor is RELIGIOUS he doesn't get paid.

      The Truth Embargo is real. They've been storing up all these inventor's ideas, working on them, planning to use them out in Outer Space and feeding back to taxpayer's they just now invented something because of the monies they paid. Make everybody feel Warm & Cozy thinking their TAX MONEY TRILLIONS paid THEM for the ideas.

      The ideas have been here for YEARS, many even decades.

      What hopeless bunch of brainwashed doorknob brains you college people are.

      You disgust me. So, the pot didn't affect you eh? hahahaha

      It's affecting you now.

    • 2 years ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • Gravity_Man:

      And then, then you all think Oh Wow, see, what'd I tell ya? Godless Science has it all over Religion. Look what we did, look what we did, all without any help from any old God.

      Yeah, right.

      Enjoy the Kool-Aid. It's in your food, drinks, TV and Internet.

    • 2 years ago
  • Dagum
  • Gravity_Man
  • Progresshiv
  • diabolical44
    • +1
      diabolical44  

    • stuff like this to me legitimizes all the billions of tax dollars we spend on NASA and it's massive budget. It's worth it. We need to know all there is to know about our solar system.

    • 2 years ago
  • Almibry
  • pandaman2105
  • Ares
  • Almibry
  • Almibry
  • feefer2010
  • bailey78
  • Almibry
  • bailey78
  • Progresshiv
  • bailey78
  • JETaylor
  • idealist
  • bailey78
  • bailey78
  • bailey78
  • crashbangnoises
  • Almibry
  • Almibry
  • Almibry
  • Almibry
  • Almibry
  • Almibry
  • bailey78
  • Kurta
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • Kurta:

      You are absolutely correct Kurta. A non-organic symbiotic system isn't "alive" but it is living in its own right.

      I have designed a car engine system that's like that but apparently it's too far ahead of its time I guess. It's actually a living engine designed with a "heart" of a turbocharger that works like a mechanical heart. I put flaps on the inside of the pistons that work like heart valves... but they also function to open so the returning piston can go past the fluid it just suctioned in, then the flap closes as the piston reverses back inward [shoving the fluid it just came back past].

      Similar to what you're viewing in the sun, it can be in your car, to a much lesser degree.

      It's an awesome system that makes me feel toward it the same way you expressed about the sun. People have placed a great deal of opposition in front of me, but my varied health issues fighting cancers, and repairing from a brain scan that was out of calibration and fried the inside of my head and associated structures, drying them out, was a big hindrance too.

      Just knowing my engine is possible is very awe-inspiring.

      Every stroke is a Power Stroke, plus all cylinders fire at the same time, so while some people think a tornado explosion engine using cold compressed air and heated moist steam would not have any power au contraire my fellow poster. Firing at the same time + every stroke a Power Stroke multiplies engine horsepower a minimum 1300% over combustion engines.

      Absolutely no exhaust. It is a totally enclosed engine, like a weather cycle, nothing needed added, nothing coming out, a cycle of compression decompression plus a 2nd cycle of steam to condensed water over & over.

      A Peaceful and simultaneously very violent engine at the same time, like the sun... Peace Full in that to watch it even just in my mind's eye imparts a feeling of peace that I wish I could share with all people. It will happen, one day.

    • 2 years ago
  • Gravity_Man
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