Posted on 04/21/2010 6:19:34 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Images and movies are now available from NASA. I’ve posted them here as promised. The movies available at links below are stunning, Enjoy. Press release also follows. – Anthony
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(Excerpt) Read more at wattsupwiththat.com ...
Might want to stop all other processes prior to going to the WUWT Website and viewing the movies...it has been taking down Firefox for me.
fyi
Another effect of global warming!!
No idea how that extraneous stuff got into the author field.
Here’s the press release:
Dwayne C. Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov
Susan Hendrix
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-7745
susan.m.hendrix@nasa.gov
RELEASE: 10-091
NASA’S NEW EYE ON THE SUN DELIVERS STUNNING FIRST IMAGES
WASHINGTON – 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.
That is the accumulated heat from mankind’s SUVs!
You can get a sidebar gadget at http://wobbleworks.com/ that shows the current sun. You can choose from all the available filters. Neat to have on your desktop.
Pretty Intense Stuff!!
Keep your flare shield handy. 8-]
Pretty impressive stuff to say the least. I did not play the movies for fear of running out of memory. But one can see just from the stills what a chaotic place the sun’s surface really is.
I’ve had one of the pics as my “desktop” since yesterday. Stunning!
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WOW!!!
Gee. Who would think an immense ball of plasma could be so complex ? Too bad she has been quiet the last week. Going on 7 days now with no spots.
Pretty neat, both topics have great pics!
Very much so!
I don’t believe most people really appreciate what the Sun means to us. It would be an interesting exercise if the Sun were to be ‘turned off’ for a day or two. I’d bet everyone would be very happy to see it again when it came back on. :p
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