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 is splotchy and with thin yellow wisps extending from the surface. Some areas are very bright and others are 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.
-
4:13:12
SilverFox
17 hours ago🔴LIVE - Path of Exile 2 - WORLD PREMIERE - Part 3
50.1K -
3:35:14
SOLTEKGG
6 hours agoNew Update | Epic Fortnite Fails & Wins!
28.4K1 -
58:52
Barstool Gambling
6 hours agoBarstool College Football Bracket Show with Brandon Walker, Big Cat, & Big T Presented By DraftKings
25.8K2 -
14:54
Degenerate Jay
1 day ago $23.62 earnedWhy Daniel Craig Almost Wasn't James Bond
111K39 -
24:25
MYLUNCHBREAK CHANNEL PAGE
2 days agoSecrets of the Giants
377K164 -
9:19
Tundra Tactical
1 day ago $44.90 earnedJoe Biden PARDONS CRACKHEAD Hunter.
162K34 -
10:07
Silver Dragons
1 day ago$1,092 Silver to Dollar Ratio 👀 Silver to Set a NEW RECORD?
131K30 -
1:34:52
Tactical Advisor
1 day agoThe Vault Room Podcast 005 | Assassination & Auto Industry Crash
190K23 -
1:17:15
Squaring The Circle, A Randall Carlson Podcast
1 day ago#030 The Apocalypse Unsealed Pt 1 - Squaring the Circle: A Randall Carlson Podcast
70.3K27 -
59:45
Trumpet Daily
2 days ago $13.47 earnedNobody Cares What Obama Says Anymore - Trumpet Daily | Dec. 6, 2024
47.6K61