Premium Only Content

A DECADE OF SUN
As of June 2020, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory — SDO — has now been watching the Sun non-stop for over a full decade. From its orbit in space around the Earth, SDO has gathered 425 million high-resolution images of the Sun, amassing 20 million gigabytes of data over the past 10 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 10-year 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 one photo every hour, the movie condenses a decade of the Sun into 61 minutes. The video shows the rise and fall in activity that occurs as part of the Sun’s 11-year solar cycle and notable events, like transiting planets and eruptions. The custom music, titled “Solar Observer,” was composed by musician Lars Leonhard (https://www.lars-leonhard.de/).
While SDO has kept an unblinking eye pointed towards the Sun, there have been a few moments it missed. The dark frames in the video are caused by Earth or the Moon eclipsing SDO as they pass between the spacecraft and the Sun. A longer blackout in 2016 was caused by a temporary issue with the AIA instrument that was successfully resolved after a week. 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.
-
2:11:29
vivafrei
18 hours agoEp. 253: Zelensky Dress-Down and Geopolitical Fallout! D.C. Court Rules AGAINST Trump Firing & MORE!
196K299 -
2:13:14
Nerdrotic
11 hours ago $10.30 earnedMegalithomania! with Hugh Newman and Andrew Collins | Forbidden Frontier #092
86.8K13 -
38:41
Sarah Westall
13 hours agoHealth Freedom Under Attack, Dr Robert Young Found Guilty on Suspicious Victimless Crime, Matt Hazen
91K9 -
LIVE
Vigilant News Network
12 hours agoDataRepublican Exposes the Shadow Government’s Darkest Secrets - Exclusive Interview | Media Blackout
1,971 watching -
31:39
Peter Santenello
1 year agoStories From Vegas' Golden Era 🇺🇸
88.1K24 -
LIVE
The Why Files
15 hours agoLIVE: The Why Files 24/7 Stream n' Chat
1,371 watching -
55:15
Russell Brand
1 day agoThe Truth About Big Pharma & COVID with Dr. Aseem Malhotra
191K11 -
1:19:48
The Rubin Report
16 hours agoWhat the Trump Administration Must Do Instead of Revenge | Peter Thiel
143K172 -
1:59:00
Steve-O's Wild Ride! Podcast
3 days ago $38.41 earnedPatrick Bet-David DESTROYS Steve-O's Dad - Wild Ride #252
159K57 -
3:29:15
deathbee
19 hours ago[XboxONE] GRINDING 1000g FC24
107K7