Solar Odyssey: 133 Days on the Sun - Unveiling the Mysteries of Our Star

"Sun Unveiled: 133 Days in Space - NASA's Solar Odyssey"

Embark on an extraordinary journey to the heart of our closest star with "Sun Unveiled: 133 Days in Space - NASA's Solar Odyssey." This mesmerizing time-lapse chronicles the solar activity captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) from August 12 to December 22, 2022.

For nearly 13 years, the SDO has captured the Sun's intricate dance in stunning 4K x 4K resolution from its orbit around Earth. Through a trio of instruments, SDO provides an unprecedented window into the Sun's dynamic behavior, offering insights into its influence on our solar system.

Every 0.75 seconds, SDO's watchful gaze captures an image of the Sun. The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument works in tandem, providing images every 12 seconds at 10 different wavelengths of light. This captivating video focuses on images taken at a wavelength of 17.1 nanometers, revealing the corona – the Sun's outermost atmospheric layer – in extreme-ultraviolet detail.

Over the span of 133 days, equivalent to about four months, this time-lapse compiles images taken 108 seconds apart into a captivating 59-minute video. Witness the Sun's rotation as it showcases vibrant active regions moving across its face. Remarkably, the Sun completes one rotation approximately every 27 days.

The brilliant loops extending above the active regions are magnetic fields holding superheated plasma. These regions are also the birthplaces of solar flares, brilliant flashes that occur as magnetic fields realign in a phenomenon known as magnetic reconnection.

While SDO diligently records the Sun's activity, a few fleeting moments have slipped by. Dark frames in the video occur when Earth or the Moon eclipse SDO as they pass between the spacecraft and the Sun. Additional blackouts result from temporary instrumentation downtime or data errors. SDO transmits a staggering 1.4 terabytes of data to Earth every day.

Even the frames where the Sun appears off-center have their significance – these were observed during SDO's instrument calibration moments. As SDO continues its vigilant watch, it joins other NASA missions in unraveling the Sun's secrets, enhancing our understanding of our cosmic place and ensuring the safety of our astronauts and assets.

Accompanied by the continuous mix from Lars Leonhard's "Geometric Shapes" album, courtesy of the artist, this visual and auditory experience invites you to immerse yourself in the brilliance and mystique of our life-giving star.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Lead Producer: Scott Wiessinger (PAO)
Lead Visualizer: Tom Bridgman (SVS)
Narration: Scott Wiessinger (PAO)

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