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.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Scott Wiessinger (PAO): Lead Producer
Tom Bridgman (SVS): Lead Visualizer
Scott Wiessinger (PAO): Editor
Video Description:
On the left side of the frame is the full circle of the Sun. It appears in a golden yellow color, but splotchy and with thin yellow wisps extending from the surface. Some areas are very bright and others almost black. The whole Sun rotates steadily, with one full rotation taking 12 minutes in this time lapse. There are usually only a few bright regions visible at a time and they shift and flash like small fires. From these regions there are wispy loops reaching up above the surface that rapidly change shape and size.
On the right side of the frame are two white-outlined squares with enlargements of interesting regions of the Sun.
If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel:
/ nasagoddard
-
1:51:03
Game On!
9 hours agoCollege Football Saturday! Week 6 Preview and Predictions!
7.34K2 -
17:28
Winston Marshall
2 days agoThe VP Debate REVEALED More Than You Know...
80.8K117 -
1:20:16
Bright Insight
17 hours agoFriday Night LIVESTREAM
19.2K39 -
20:54
Stephen Gardner
16 hours ago🔴JUST IN: Fox News Jesse Waters SHARES BAD NEWS from Trump’s Lawyer!
20.5K106 -
LIVE
Vigilant News Network
17 hours agoBad News Strikes Diddy in Stunning New Development | The Daily Dose
1,547 watching -
49:38
Brewzle
23 hours agoI Survived 18 Whiskey Distilleries in the RAIN at a Festival
17.6K7 -
2:45
Cooking with Gruel
16 hours agoEgg Shell Hack - Does it Work?
15.3K6 -
12:06
DEADBUGsays
1 day agoThe Last Sumo | Murder by Design #12
19.6K -
17:55
Jamie Kennedy
17 hours agoDownfall of Rome and America w/ Jack Osbourne - Hate To Break It To Ya from Ep. 170
15K3 -
14:23
Link to the Light
1 day agoWhy RGT85 and ZenkaiGoose are WRONG about the 9th Generation
18.9K5