On February 11th, 2010, NASA launched a new spacecraft called the Solar Dynamics Observatory [SDO], which was designed to give more knowledge and clearer images of the Sun than any other spacecraft that has been launched before for this purpose. On April 21st, 2010, the scientists of NASA ...
The Sun emitted a mid-level solar flare on January 20, 2022, peaking at 1:01 a.m.EST. NASA’sSolar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications...
(Image credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA) Don't be alarmed, but the sun is constantly exploding. While violent nuclear fusion reactions power the sun's 27-million-degree-Fahrenheit (15 million degrees Celsius) core, towers of molten plasma, crackling radiation and electromagnetic energy ri...
Closer view of the equatorial region of the Sun on March 24, 2007 from the STEREO mission. (Image credit: NASA) Scientists unveiled today some of the first 3-D images of the violent electrical storms that rage within the Sun's atmosphere. In the new images, the electrified loops and ...
NASA’s SDO includes numerous imagers, each with specialized filters to help study specific parts of the Sun’s activity. On the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), four telescopes help the SDO get very close to the Sun’s surface. The AIA can see details as small as 725 kilometers (450...
Did you know the Sun has moss? Due to its resemblance to the earthly plants, scientists have named a small-scale, bright, patchy structure made ofplasmain the solar atmosphere “moss.” This moss, which was first identified in 1999 by NASA’s TRACE mission, blossoms around the center of ...
NASA's Perseverance rovercaptured images of Mars' moon, Phobos, traversing the sun and casting a shadow across the surface of the Red Planet in a partial solar eclipse. In the timelapse of photos taken on Feb. 8, Phobos' irregularly shaped silhouette passes over...
This isn’t the first time that we’ve gotten a good look at a solar flare. Plenty of astrophotographers have managed to snap some great images andvideos of the Sunthrowing a tantrum. And, with so many spacecraft and observatories focused on the Sun, NASA is able to capture some fantast...
However, such images are rare because the Sun appears much closer to Earth from a great distance, increasing the risk of damaging space camera sensors. Nonetheless, the Cassini spacecraft captured this stunning image when the Sun was behind Saturn. Cassini is a joint project of NASA and ESA ...
One 'active region' on the Sun, named AR2975, has been attracting attention. AR 2975 and AR 2976 stand out on the surface of the Sun, in this image captured on March 30, 2022, by the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Credit: NASA This tangle of magnetic fields an...