A Sun Odyssey: A Journey Through a Decade of Solar Discovery

As of June 2020, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has been ceaselessly observing the Sun for a full decade. Positioned in Earth's orbit, SDO has collected 425 million high-resolution Sun images, amassing 20 million gigabytes of data over the past ten years. This data has fueled numerous fresh revelations regarding our nearest star's mechanisms and its influence on the solar system. SDO employs a trio of instruments, capturing a Sun image every 0.75 seconds. The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) captures shots every 12 seconds across ten light wavelengths. This ten-year time lapse compresses a Sun decade into a 61-minute video. It displays the Sun's 11-year solar cycle activity, including planetary transits and eruptions. Occasionally, SDO missed moments due to Earth or the Moon eclipsing it, with some longer blackouts resolved in 2016. The Sun off-center images emerged during SDO instrument calibration. With SDO and other NASA missions continuously observing the Sun, they will further enrich our cosmic understanding, ensuring astronaut and asset safety in space.