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NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory — SDO — has now been watching the Sun non-stop for over a full decade. From its orbit in space around the Earth, SDO has gathered 425 million high-resolution images of the Sun, amassing 20 million gigabytes of data over the past 10 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 10-year 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 one photo every hour, the movie condenses a decade of the Sun into 61 minutes. The video shows the rise and fall in activity that occurs as part of the Sun’s 11-year solar cycle and notable events, like transiting planets and eruptions. The custom music, titled “Solar Observer,” was composed by musician Lars Leonhard (https://www.lars-leonhard.de). While SDO has kept an unblinking eye pointed towards the Sun, there have been a few moments it missed. The dark frames in the video are caused by Earth or the Moon eclipsing SDO as they pass between the spacecraft and the Sun. A longer blackout in 2016 was caused by a temporary issue with the AIA instrument that was successfully resolved after a week. 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. Some noteworthy events appear briefly in this time lapse. Use the time links below to jump to each event, or follow the links to more detailed views. 6:20 June 7, 2011-- A massive prominence eruption explodes from the lower right of the Sun. See the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HloC4xMg4Z4 https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10801 12:24 June 5, 2012-- The transit of Venus across the face of the Sun. Won’t happen again until 2117. See the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z9rM8ChTjY https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10996 13:06 July 19, 2012-- A complex loop of magnetic fields and plasma forms and lasts for hours. See the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFT7ATLQQx8 https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11168 13:50 Aug. 31, 2012-- The most iconic eruption of this solar cycle bursts from the lower left of the Sun. See the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrnGi-q6iWc https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11095 20:25 Sept. 29, 2013-- A prominence eruption forms a long 'canyon’ that is then covered with loops of plasma. See the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qurh_BZ-O2E https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11379 26:39 Oct. 8, 2014-- Active regions on the Sun resemble a jack o’ lantern just in time for Halloween. https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11711 36:18 May 9, 2016-- Mercury transits across the face of the Sun. Smaller and more distant than Venus it is hard to spot. See the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhO6Ufw9h_s https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12235 43:20 July 5, 2017-- A large sunspot group spends two weeks crossing the face of the Sun. See the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SungFXUsoqw https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12105 44:20 Sept. 6, 2017-- The most powerful sequence of flares during this solar cycle crackle for several days, peaking at X9.3. See the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-ZQBlWdlAY https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12706 57:38 Nov. 11, 2019-- Mercury transits the Sun once more for SDO. The next transit won’t be until 2032. See the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yNzSwlnQ2Q https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13425 Read more: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/watch-a-10-year-time-lapse-of-sun-from-nasa-s-sdo Music: "Solar Observer" written and produced for this video by Lars Leonhard (https://www.lars-leonhard.de) Video credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Lead Producer Tom Bridgman (GST): Lead Data Visualizer Mara Johnson-Groh (Wyle Information Systems): Lead Science Writer This video is public domain and along with other supporting visualizations can be downloaded from NASA Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio at: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13641 If you liked this video,

While Apollo placed the first steps on the Moon, Artemis opens the door for humanity to sustainably work and live on another world for the first time. Using the lunar surface as a proving ground for living on Mars, this next chapter in exploration will forever establish our presence in the stars. ✨ We are returning to the Moon – to stay – and this is how we are going! Actress Kelly Marie Tran of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” lent her voice to this project.

This 4K visualization shows the Moon's phase and libration at hourly intervals throughout 2020, as viewed from the Northern Hemisphere. Each frame represents one hour. In addition, this visualization shows the moon's orbit position, sub-Earth and subsolar points, and distance from the Earth at true scale. Craters near the terminator are labeled, as are Apollo landing sites, maria, and other albedo features in sunlight. Credits: Data visualization by Ernie Wright (USRA) Producer & Editor - David Ladd (USRA) Music: "Calling It a Night" - Written by Matt Cusson. Vocal and Piano by Matt Cusson. 23 Jump Shots ASCAP. copyright2017 This video is public domain and along with other supporting visualizations can be downloaded from the Scientific Visualization Studio at: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4768 Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/David Lad

NASA’s Lucy mission tests the deployment of its solar arrays in the thermal vacuum chamber at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado. Each of the two circular arrays is nearly 24 feet (7.3 m) wide. These arrays will power Lucy on its 12-year odyssey through the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, breaking records for a solar powered mission by traveling 530 million miles (853 million km) from the Sun. These large arrays will capture the sunlight needed to power the spacecraft as it travels through deep space.

This 4K visualization shows the Moon's phase and libration at hourly intervals throughout 2022, as viewed from the Southern Hemisphere. Each frame represents one hour. In addition, this visualization shows the Moon's orbit position, sub-Earth and subsolar points, and distance from the Earth at true scale. Craters near the terminator are labeled, as are Apollo landing sites, maria, and other albedo features in sunlight. Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Data visualization by Ernie Wright (USRA) Producer & Editor - David Ladd (AIMM) Music provided by Universal Production Music

In this artist’s rendition, we explore a metallic world named Psyche, an asteroid that offers a unique window into the building blocks of planet formation. The NASA Psyche mission launches in 2023 and will arrive at the asteroid Psyche, which orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, in 2026. The spacecraft, also named Psyche, will spend 21 months orbiting the asteroid, mapping it and studying its properties. The mission is led by Principal Investigator Lindy Elkins-Tanton of Arizona State University. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies is providing a high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis.

101955 Bennu is one of Earth’s closest planetary neighbors – an asteroid roughly the height of a skyscraper, and since late 2018, the place that NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has called home. When OSIRIS-REx arrived on Dec. 3, 2018, it began wrapping Bennu in a complex web of observations. OSIRIS-REx departs Bennu on May 10, 2021, on a return voyage to Earth, bringing with it over 60 grams of sample collected from the asteroid. This narrated video presents the mission’s complete trajectory during its time at Bennu.

Everything that happens on the International Space Station revolves around one thing: Earth, sixteen times a day! So for Earth Day 2021, NASA offers a gift you can’t get anywhere else with this leisurely view of our home planet, from 250 miles up, rendered in extraordinary ultra-high definition video. Hit play, relax and enjoy. This 4K footage was recorded between 2019 and 2020.

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 This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14263. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14263.