Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) launch today.

Cosimo · 31 Jul 2010 at 12:49

int said:
I'm sure this gets asked all the time, but what is that website which allows you to see all of the satellites currently orbiting the earth?

I use:

http://www.n2yo.com/?s=23175
http://science.nasa.gov/realtime/
http://www.spaceweather.com/flybys/

Cosimo · 3 Aug 2010 at 13:40

We may be doomed then again not.

2010 August 1 SDO/AIA 304-Angstrom view of X-ray flare and filament eruption

At approximately 0855 UTC on August 1, 2010, a C3.2 magnitude soft X-ray flare erupted from NOAA Active Sunspot Region 11092 (1092). Latest updates on website: http://prop.hfradio.org/

At nearly the same time, a massive filament eruption occurred. Prior to the filament's eruption, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) AIA instruments revealed an enormous plasma filament stretching across the sun's northern hemisphere. When the solar shock wave triggered by the C3.2-class X-ray explosion plowed through this filament, it caused the filament to erupt, sending out a huge plasma cloud.

In this movie, taken by SDO AIA at the 304-Angstrom wavelength, a cooler shock wave can be seen emerging from the origin of the X-ray flare and sweeping across the sun's northern hemisphere into the filament field. The impact of this shock wave may well have propelled the filament into space.

This movie seems to support this analysis: Despite the approximately 400,000 kilometer distance between the flare and the filament eruption, they appear to erupt together. How can this be? Most likely they're connected by long-range magnetic fields (remember: we cannot see these magnetic field lines unless there is plasma riding these fields).

NOTE: The energy that will likely be transferred by the plasma mass that was ejected by the two eruptions (first, the slower-moving coronal mass ejection originating in the C-class X-ray flare at sunspot region 1092, and, second, the faster-moving plasma ejection originating in the filament eruption) is at most "moderate". This event was rather low in energy. It will not result in any news-worth events on Earth (no laptops will be fried, no power grids will fail).

This is an amazing event, though. A complex series of eruptions involving most of the visible surface of the sun has occurred, ejecting plasma toward the Earth. This coronal mass ejection (CME) rides the solar wind. Depending on the speed of the solar wind and the ejected plasma, this cloud will reach Earth's magnetosphere sometime between August 3 and August 5. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras. Radio communications by way of the ionosphere may become degraded soon after the CME arrives, and the degraded conditions may last for up to three days.

A coronal wave and filament eruption August 1-2, 2010 (SDO/AIA 171)

A coronal wave starting at 2023 UTC on August 1, 2010 and ending 0202 UTC on August 2, 2010. This movie captures the event at the 171-Angstrom wavelength by SDO AIA. This wave occurs at about the same time as the second filament eruption. The filament eruption is stunning, but watch the ripple of the coronal wave moving northwesterly toward the sun's northern pole. (Remember, west is on our right, while east is on our left, as we view the solar disc).

NOTE: The energy that will likely be transferred by the plasma mass that was ejected by the two eruptions (first, the slower-moving coronal mass ejection originating in the C-class X-ray flare at sunspot region 1092, and, second, the faster-moving plasma ejection originating in the filament eruption) is at most "moderate". This event was rather low in energy. It will not result in any news-worth events on Earth (no laptops will be fried, no power grids will fail).

Cosimo · 4 Aug 2010 at 23:27

Two more videos of the coronal mass ejection have been released:

NASA SDO - Coronal Mass Ejection on August 1, 2010

The AIA instrument on SDO recorded the coronal mass ejection (CME) that occurred on Sunday August 1, 2010. Predictions are that the particles from this CME will reach Earth's magnetosphere today, so look to the north tonight to and you may see aurora.

NASA STEREO - August 1, 2010 CME

One of the fastest CMEs in years was captured by the STEREO COR1 telescopes on Aug. 1, 2010. This movie combines COR1-Ahead images with Helium II 304 Angstrom images from the STEREO EUVI telescope. It shows the rapid explosion of material outward, followed by a slower eruption of a polar crown prominence from another part of the sun. This CME headed toward Earth at speeds above 620 miles per sec.

Cosimo · 6 Aug 2010 at 09:18

Yet another amazing vdeo:

NASA SDO - August 3 SpraySurge & August 4

August 3, 2010 - Spray Surge (observation time: 1 hour 37 minutes)
In this short clip least some of the ejecta is seen to retract or drain back toward the spot.

August 4, 2010 - Filament Activation (observation time: 4 hours 3 minutes)
Overlaid of the 304 channel (yellow) over the line-of-sight magnetogram from HMI (green and red indicated negative and positive polarities, respectively) shows a filament roughly above the polarity inversion line. This filament undergoes some activations (i.e. brightenings).171 is shown in blue.

Credit: NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Stanford University

Cosimo · 12 Aug 2010 at 09:18

Yet another amazing video of our sun:

The Sun 2 Weeks With SDO/AIA (July 25 - August 7, 2010)

www.thesuntoday.org - Here is a 2 week view of the sun as observed by the AIA (Atmospheric Imaging Assembly) instrument aboard the SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) spacecraft. This video contains 4 wavelength channels, 304, 171, 193 and 211. First all four wavelengths are shown simultaneously then each one separately. It has been a fairly busy 2 weeks even though the solar activity is not high.

The first period of note is August 1 with 2 filament eruptions, a C flare, EUV wave and 2 CMEs. The first CME from the active region produced Aurora. The second is on August 7 when a M-class flare, EUV wave and CME occurred. In addition to these 2 times there is always something happening if you look around the sun. Because of some data and formatting problems, there is no data on July 30 and 31 and the intensity scaling on August 1 is different than the rest of the 2 weeks

Credit: sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov

Cosimo · 16 Aug 2010 at 09:09

One more amazing video to show the full extent of the coronal mass ejection, this time from SOHO:

NASA / ESA SOHO - CME HALO

SOHO captured this video clip of a full halo coronal mass ejection (CME) that blasted a substantial cloud of particles away from the Sun (Aug, 7, 2010). The majority of the cloud went to the left with only a smaller portion heading to the right, suggesting that it would not likely have any strong impact on Earth. A "halo" cloud is one that appears to surround the Sun on all sides as it expands, meaning it is heading somewhat towards Earth or away from it. The still and movie are generated by processing the changes from one frame to the next to highlight those changes, thus, we call this a "difference movie."

Cosimo · 16 Aug 2010 at 10:11

The Mad Rapper said:
Please correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding is that the sun has been experiencing a period of calm and is now moving towards a solar maximum. Is that correct?

How active is it likely to get?

Solar activity has been at a low and we are now experiencing what appears to be the beginning of another solar cycle. Typically these cycles have an 11 year period and this one looks like it is on its way with scientists predicting that it will reach peak activity next year.

Cosimo · 16 Aug 2010 at 15:41

The Mad Rapper said:
Thanks.

Is there anything to indicate that this peak activity is likely to be more pronounced than previous peaks? I am reading conflicting information on the Internet.

There are these trends/predictions:

http://www.solarcycle24.com/trends.htm

You could follow these:

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/forecast.html
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
http://www.solarcycle24.com/

I might be asking a few questions here:

http://solarcycle24com.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general

Cosimo · 17 Aug 2010 at 09:10

The activity never stops. This time we have solar flares and sunspots.

NASA SDO - August 14, 2010 Solar Flare

Yet another busy weekend on the Sun with three CMEs. On August 14, 2010 we observed a beautiful solar flare.

NASA SDO - HMI's view of a Sunspots

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory observed the active region 1093 from August 8 through August 13, 2010 and the split of the sunspot into two sunspots.

Cosimo · 25 Aug 2010 at 09:18

Time to get a better understanding of what is happening:

Cosimo · 17 Sep 2010 at 17:14

Two new videos have arrived.

NASA SDO - The Dance of Filaments, September 13, 2010

Beautiful movie of filaments dancing on the Sun at the northwest limb on September 13, 2010.

Credit: NASA SDO / Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company

NASA SDO & STEREO - Comparative View of the Sun

This movie compares the spatial and temporal resolutions of the SDO/AIA (Atmospheric Imaging Assembly) imager to the STEREO/EUVI (Extreme UltraViolet Imager) imager. STEREO-B/EUVI's highest resolution is 2048x2048 pixels with images taken about every 5 minutes for the 195 Angstrom band. The SDO/AIA 193 band takes images at 4096x4096 pixels every twelve seconds!

While STEREO's vantage point at this time is very different from SDO, we can still identify some features of the Active Region 1087 in these two views. EUVI shows the launch of the filament, while AIA reveals many finer details.

Credit:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
NASA STEREO
NASA SDO

Cosimo · 7 Feb 2011 at 07:46

For the first time the 3-D structure of coronal mass ejections has been revealed:

Launched in October 2006, STEREO traces the flow of energy and matter from the sun to Earth. It also provides unique and revolutionary views of the sun-Earth system. The mission observed the sun in 3-D for the first time in 2007. In 2009, the twin spacecraft revealed the 3-D structure of coronal mass ejections which are violent eruptions of matter from the sun that can disrupt communications, navigation, satellites and power grids on Earth.

Seeing the whole sun front and back simultaneously will enable significant advances in space weather forecasting for Earth and for planning for future robotic and manned spacecraft missions throughout the solar system.

These views are the result of observations by NASA's two Solar TErrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft. The duo are on diametrically opposite sides of the sun, 180 degrees apart. One is ahead of Earth in its orbit, the other trailing behind.

Credit: NASA

Cosimo · 7 Feb 2011 at 09:13

A very brief history of how we have viewed the sun:

Short and sweet.

Cosimo · 25 Feb 2011 at 17:25

This one is a stunner and shows a monster prominence which occurred on the edge of the sun yesterday:

When a rather large-sized (M 3.6 class) flare occurred near the edge of the Sun, it blew out a gorgeous, waving mass of erupting plasma that swirled and twisted over a 90-minute period (Feb. 24, 2011). This event was captured in extreme ultraviolet light by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft . Some of the material blew out into space and other portions fell back to the surface. Because SDO images are super-HD, we can zoom in on the action and still see exquisite details. And using a cadence of a frame taken every 24 seconds, the sense of motion is, by all appearances, seamless. Sit back and enjoy the jaw-dropping solar show