Premium Only Content

133 Days on the Sun
This video chronicles solar activity from Aug. 12 to Dec. 22, 2022, as captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). From its orbit in space around Earth, SDO has steadily imaged the Sun in 4K x 4K resolution for nearly 13 years. This information has enabled countless new discoveries about the workings of our closest star and how it influences the solar system.
With a triad of instruments, SDO captures an image of the Sun every 0.75 seconds. The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument alone captures images every 12 seconds at 10 different wavelengths of light. This 133-day time lapse showcases photos taken at a wavelength of 17.1 nanometers, which is an extreme-ultraviolet wavelength that shows the Sun’s outermost atmospheric layer: the corona. Compiling images taken 108 seconds apart, the movie condenses 133 days, or about four months, of solar observations into 59 minutes. The video shows bright active regions passing across the face of the Sun as it rotates. The Sun rotates approximately once every 27 days. The loops extending above the bright regions are magnetic fields that have trapped hot, glowing plasma. These bright regions are also the source of solar flares, which appear as bright flashes as magnetic fields snap together in a process called magnetic reconnection.
While SDO has kept an unblinking eye pointed toward the Sun, there have been a few moments it missed. Some of the dark frames in the video are caused by Earth or the Moon eclipsing SDO as they pass between the spacecraft and the Sun. Other blackouts are caused by instrumentation being down or data errors. SDO transmits 1.4 terabytes of data to the ground every day. The images where the Sun is off-center were observed when SDO was calibrating its instruments.
SDO and other NASA missions will continue to watch our Sun in the years to come, providing further insights about our place in space and information to keep our astronauts and assets safe.
The music is a continuous mix from Lars Leonhard’s “Geometric Shapes” album, courtesy of the artist.
-
2:50:22
TimcastIRL
10 hours agoTrump Hits China With 125% Tariff, Pauses Others, Sees LARGEST Market Rally IN HISTORY | Timcast IRL
347K195 -
1:43:15
Glenn Greenwald
12 hours agoTrump's Tariffs: A Threat to the Neoliberal Order? With Journalist David Sirota; Biden CBP Fabricated Doc to Help Imprison Bolsonaro Adviser? Plus: Israel Support Collapsing | SYSTEM UPDATE #436
192K105 -
15:04
T-SPLY
14 hours agoMSNBC Accuses Trump Of "Snatching" Illegal Immigrants For Political Show
85.8K36 -
2:01:37
Melonie Mac
14 hours agoGo Boom Live Ep 44!
118K34 -
LIVE
SikeSzns
1 hour agoForza Horizon 5
90 watching -
LIVE
BigDaddySlick78's Live Gaming Channel
2 hours ago🔴 Call Of Duty Warzone Rebirth Island & Area 99 Live w/ Subs #callofduty #warzone #bo6 #cod
109 watching -
49:41
BonginoReport
13 hours agoKristi Noem Honors Angel Mom After Son's Brutal Murder - Nightly Scroll w/Hayley Caronia (Ep.23)
155K73 -
45:22
Stephen Gardner
11 hours ago🔥WTF! Dan Bongino’s CRYPTIC ARREST message!
124K119 -
1:30:16
2 MIKES LIVE
12 hours ago2 MIKES LIVE #203 Lone Survivor with Donna Axelson and Adam Flynn!
75.1K -
1:18:49
Kim Iversen
14 hours agoEXPOSED: Inside Tim Pool’s Secret Meeting with Netanyahu | Trump’s Tariff Gamble: Boost for America or Death Blow?
205K480