Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Archives

April 18, 2012January 7, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

Watch it Rain on the Sun

The big solar flare and coronal mass ejection earlier this week created an unusual event on the Sun: it rained. Not water drops of course, but coronal rain. After the eruption, blobs of plasma fell back to the surface of the Sun, sometimes making ‘splashes’ where they hit. Coronal rain is plasma gas that condenses in the corona and then descends back to the surface. It has long been a mystery and its motion has perplexed solar physicists. For some reason, coronal rain falls much slower than is expected for plasma falling due to the huge gravitational pull of the Sun. Many times, rather than falling straight down — as it would if gravity was the only force pulling on it — the plasma rain follows invisible magnetic field lines, which can be detected by instruments on board watchful spacecraft.

This video was produced from data from the Solar Optical Telescope on NASA/JAXA’s Hinode spacecraft of the big M1/7 class flare that erupted on April 16 from Active Region 1461. Scientists say thanks to spacecraft like Hinode and the Solar Dynamic Observatory, this phenomenon can be studied in much more detail so that they can better understand this unusual event.

April 16, 2012January 7, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

Big Blast from the Sun

The CME we reported on earlier today was obviously just a warm up to the latest blast: A beautiful prominence eruption producing a larger CME off the east limb (left side) of the sun on April 16, 2012 at about 17:45 UTC (1:45 pm EDT). The event, which also produced an M1.7-class solar flare, was not Earth-directed, say scientists from the Solar Dynamics Observatory. But SpaceWeather.com says the blast confirms suspicions that a significant active region is rotating onto the Earth-side of the sun.

April 16, 2012December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

The Sun Spits Out a Coronal Mass Ejection

A CME from the Sun on April 15, 2012. Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory

Ever squirted water out of your mouth when playing in a swimming pool or lake? This Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) release by the Sun on April 15, 2012 looks reminiscent of such water spouting. But this burst of solar plasma being hurled from the eastern limb of the Sun is more like an explosion, as such CMEs can release up to 100 billion kg (220 billion lb) of material, and the speed of the ejection can reach 1000 km/second (2 million mph) in some flares. Scientists at the Solar Dynamics Observatory say some of the explosions approach the power in one billion hydrogen bombs! In this video, the Sun hurled a cloud of plasma towards the STEREO B spacecraft and SDO captured the event in a couple of different wavelengths.

Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are balloon-shaped bursts of solar wind rising above the solar corona, expanding as they climb. Solar plasma is heated to tens of millions of degrees, and electrons, protons, and heavy nuclei are accelerated to near the speed of light. The super-heated electrons from CMEs move along the magnetic field lines faster than the solar wind can flow. Rearrangement of the magnetic field, and solar flares may result in the formation of a shock that accelerates particles ahead of the CME loop.

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April 6, 2012January 7, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

The Sun Does a Barrel Roll

Well, not really…… The Sun didn’t do a barrel roll; it was actually the Solar Dynamics Observatory that performed a 360-degree roll about the spacecraft-Sun line. But this video showing the change in perspective of SDO makes it appear as though the Sun suddenly shifted (that’s a new one for 2012 doomsdayers to go crazy over!) This roll maneuver wasn’t just so SDO could have a bit of fun, joyriding out there in its inclined geosynchronous orbit. The roll allows the scientists to remove the instrument optical distortions from the solar images taken by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) to precisely determine the solar limb.
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March 29, 2012December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Huge ‘Tornado’ on the Sun

Spectacular rotation of material from solar prominences and the coronal cavities on September 25, 2011. Credit: NASA/Dr. Xing Li, Dr. Huw Morgan and Mr. Drew Leonard.

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The Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images and video of a spectacular rotation of material from the Sun in a solar prominence. The whirling, dancing prominence created a massive tornado-like feature on the Sun, five times bigger than the Earth. “This is perhaps the first time that such a huge solar tornado is filmed by an imager,” said Dr. Xing Li of Aberystwyth University, presenting his team’s work at the National Astronomy Meeting this week in the UK. “The superb spatial and temporal resolution of SDO allows us to observe the solar atmosphere in great detail.”

The solar tornado was discovered using the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) telescope on board SDO. On September 25, 2011, the AIA saw superheated gases as hot as 50,000 – 2,000,000 Kelvin sucked from the origin of a solar prominence, and spiral up into the high atmosphere. It traveled about 200,000 kilometers (124,000 miles) along the Sun for a period of at least three hours.

The hot gases in the tornadoes have speeds as high as 300,000 km per hour (186,000 mph) as opposed to terrestrial tornadoes, which can reach 150 km/h (90 mph).

Li and his team said that these tornadoes often occur at the root of huge coronal mass ejections. The solar tornadoes drag winding magnetic field and electric currents into the high atmosphere. It is possible that the magnetic field and currents play a key role in driving the coronal mass ejections.

A smaller solar tornado was captured in February of 2012:

The team’s work has been submitted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. See more of the images and animations here.

March 8, 2012January 11, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

A Close-up Look at the Massive Solar Storm that Shook the Sun

Here’s a close look at the large X5.4 solar flare that erupted on the Sun on March 7, 2012 at 00:28 UT, (7:28 PM EST on March 6). These high-definition views from the Solar Dynamics Observatory also show the subsequent solar tsunami that rippled across the Sun, appearing as though the Sun ‘shook’ from the force of the flare.

This storm is heading our way and will likely give Earth’s atmosphere and magnetosphere a little shake as well, but solar physicists aren’t sure yet what the full impact will be. NASA Goddard’s Space Weather Lab and NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center say surely there will be aurorae from this blast. Other potential impacts include some radio blackouts, single-event upsets to satellite operations, and airplane passengers in high latitude, high altitude flights may experience increased radiation exposures.
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February 28, 2012January 11, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

The 3-D Sun, Now in HD!

The science team from the Solar Dynamics Observatory invites you to put on your 3D glasses and enjoy our active Sun in high definition 3-d, fading from white light into extreme ultraviolet.

February 10, 2012January 11, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

Freaky Dancing Plasma on the Sun

Normally plasma from the Sun either shoots off into space or loops back on the Sun’s surface. But the Solar Dynamics Observatory captured some plasma that couldn’t make up its mind. Here, darker, cooler plasma slid and shifted back and forth above the Sun’s surface for 30 hours on February 7-8, 2012. The view is shown in extreme ultraviolet light. As a backdrop, an active region just rotating into view shows bright plasma gyrating into streams — normally how the plasma behaves. SDO scientists say the darker particles are being pulled back and forth by competing magnetic forces, tracking along strands of magnetic field lines.

And by the way, tomorrow is SDO’s 2nd anniversary! It launched two years ago on February 11, 2010. Happy anniversary, SDO and thanks for all the great videos and data so far! We wish you many more!

January 27, 2012January 11, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

“Bad Boy” Sunspot Unleashes Powerful X-Class Flare

The active region on the Sun that created all the hubbub and aurorae earlier this week put out one last shot before that area of the Sun turns away from Earth’s view. And that shot was a biggie. At 18:37 UT (1:37 pm EST) today (January 27, 2012) sunspot 1402 unleashed an X-class flare, the largest and most powerful category of flares. This flare was measured as an X2, which is at the low end of the highest powered flares, but still, this is the most powerful flare so far this year. It was not directed at Earth, but scientists from the Solar Dynamics Observatory say the energetic protons accelerated by the blast are now surrounding our planet and a S1-class radiation storm is in progress. S1-class is the lowest of 5 (S1 to S5) and has no biological impact, no satellite operations are impacted but some minor impact on HF radio could be experienced.

With all the activity from the Sun, you might need a refresher course in solar flares. Here’s a guide from SDO, and what all the different classifications are:
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January 19, 2012January 11, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

Aurora Alert! Sun Sends CME in Earth’s Direction

As seen here by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, a long duration M3-class flare began erupting on the Sun from sunspot region 1401 at 13:42 UTC (8:42 AM ET) today, Thursday, January 19, 2012, sending a coronal mass ejection (CME) directly towards Earth. Scientists predict the CME will arrive at around 16:00 UTC on January 21, 2012 GMT. Spaceweather.com says strong geomagnetic storms are possible and high-latitude (and possibly middle-latitude) skywatchers can be on the lookout for increased aurora.

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