Premium Only Content
133 Days on the Sun
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. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit https://nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines.
Video Description:
On the left side of the frame is the full circle of the Sun. It appears in a golden yellow color, but splotchy and with thin yellow wisps extending from the surface. Some areas are very bright and others almost black. The whole Sun rotates steadily, with one full rotation taking 12 minutes in this time lapse. There are usually only a few bright regions visible at a time and they shift and flash like small fires. From these regions there are wispy loops reaching up above the surface that rapidly change shape and size.
On the right side of the frame are two white-outlined squares with enlargements of interesting regions of the Sun.
If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel:
/ nasagoddard
Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
· Instagram http://www.instagram.com/nasagoddard
· Twitter http://twitter.com/NASAGoddard
· Twitter http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix
· Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NASAGoddard
· Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc
-
LIVE
Vigilant News Network
11 hours agoBombshell COVID Vaccine Study PROVES Deaths | The Daily Dose
1,209 watching -
LIVE
Game On!
7 hours agoThe Dallas Cowboys are NOT a serious NFL franchise!
1,164 watching -
1:21:04
PMG
7 hours ago"Trump's Plan to "SHATTER THE DEEP STATE" Revealed!"
473 -
18:09
Clownfish TV
20 hours agoBluesky is 2017 Twitter All Over Again...
65.7K48 -
13:27
IsaacButterfield
5 days ago $14.25 earnedI'm Scared
48K40 -
6:11
Dr. Nick Zyrowski
1 day ago4 Things I Never Do As A Doctor - Must See!
29.7K14 -
12:26
RTT: Guns & Gear
17 hours ago $14.40 earnedLevel Up Your Sig P365 With XTech Tactical
36.7K7 -
3:13:36
DDayCobra
13 hours ago $30.35 earnedCobraCast 199
68.1K16 -
12:14
DeVory Darkins
12 hours ago $31.43 earnedBill Maher TRUTH BOMB Triggers HEATED Argument on The View
95.7K141 -
31:58
The Officer Tatum
9 hours agoThe View LASHES OUT On Morning Joe For MEETING WITH Trump
62.5K111