Images and movies are now available from NASA. I’ve posted them here as promised. The movies available at links below are stunning, Enjoy. Press release also follows. – Anthony
Images from the SDO Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA)
The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) views the lower atmosphere of the Sun in ultraviolet wavelengths where we can see hot plasma moving along magnetic field lines.
CME Event of April 8, 2010 Full Disk (multiband)
CME Event of April 8, 2010 (multband)
Zoom-In on Launching Filament (multi-band)
Close-Up of Launching Filament (Bands 304)
Full-Disk View of Launching Filament (Bands 304)
Zoom-in of Launching Filament (Bands 304)
Images from the SDO Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI)
The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) images the Sun in a set of narrow wavelengths which enables us to study motions at the solar surface and collect magnetic field information.
Continuum Full Disk View – March 29, 2010
Continuum Sunspot Closeup – March 29, 2010
Continuum Sunspot Zoom-in – March 29, 2010
Continuum Full Disk View – April 7, 2010
Magnetogram Full Disk View – March 29, 2010
Magnetogram Sunspot Close-Up – March 29, 2010
Magnetogram Sunspot Zoom-In – March 29, 2010
Magnetogram Full Disk View – April 7, 2010
Dopplergram Sunspot Close-Up – March 29, 2010
Here’s the press release:
Dwayne C. Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov
Susan Hendrix
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-7745
susan.m.hendrix@nasa.gov
RELEASE: 10-091
NASA’S NEW EYE ON THE SUN DELIVERS STUNNING FIRST IMAGES
WASHINGTON – NASA’s recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, is returning early images that confirm an unprecedented new capability for scientists to better understand our sun’s dynamic processes. These solar activities affect everything on Earth.
Some of the images from the spacecraft show never-before-seen detail of material streaming outward and away from sunspots. Others show extreme close-ups of activity on the sun’s surface. The spacecraft also has made the first high-resolution measurements of solar flares in a broad range of extreme ultraviolet wavelengths.
“These initial images show a dynamic sun that I had never seen in more than 40 years of solar research,” said Richard Fisher, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “SDO will change our understanding of the sun and its processes, which affect our lives and society. This mission will have a huge impact on science, similar to the impact of the Hubble Space Telescope on modern astrophysics.”
Launched on Feb. 11, 2010, SDO is the most advanced spacecraft ever designed to study the sun. During its five-year mission, it will examine the sun’s magnetic field and also provide a better understanding of the role the sun plays in Earth’s atmospheric chemistry and climate. Since launch, engineers have been conducting testing and verification of the spacecraft’s components. Now fully operational, SDO will provide images with clarity 10 times better than high-definition television and will return more comprehensive science data faster than any other solar observing spacecraft.
SDO will determine how the sun’s magnetic field is generated, structured and converted into violent solar events such as turbulent solar wind, solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These immense clouds of material, when directed toward Earth, can cause large magnetic storms in our planet’s magnetosphere and upper atmosphere. SDO will provide critical data that will improve the ability to predict these space weather events.
Space weather has been recognized as a cause of technological problems since the invention of the telegraph in the 19th century. These events produce disturbances in electromagnetic fields on Earth that can induce extreme currents in wires, disrupting power lines and causing widespread blackouts. These solar storms can interfere with communications between ground controllers, satellites and airplane pilots flying near Earth’s poles. Radio noise from the storm also can disrupt cell phone service.
SDO will send 1.5 terabytes of data back to Earth each day, which is equivalent to a daily download of half a million songs onto an MP3 player. The observatory carries three state-of the-art instruments for conducting solar research.
The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager maps solar magnetic fields and looks beneath the sun’s opaque surface. The experiment will decipher the physics of the sun’s activity, taking pictures in several very narrow bands of visible light. Scientists will be able to make ultrasound images of the sun and study active regions in a way similar to watching sand shift in a desert dune. The instrument’s principal investigator is Phil Scherrer of Stanford University. HMI was built by a collaboration of Stanford University and the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory.
The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly is a group of four telescopes designed to photograph the sun’s surface and atmosphere. The instrument covers 10 different wavelength bands, or colors, selected to reveal key aspects of solar activity. These types of images will show details never seen before by scientists. The principal investigator is Alan Title of the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory in Palo Alto, Calif., which built the instrument.
The Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment measures fluctuations in the sun’s radiant emissions. These emissions have a direct and powerful effect on Earth’s upper atmosphere — heating it, puffing it up, and breaking apart atoms and molecules. Researchers don’t know how fast the sun can vary at many of these wavelengths, so they expect to make discoveries about flare events. The principal investigator is Tom Woods of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. LASP built the instrument.
“These amazing images, which show our dynamic sun in a new level of detail, are only the beginning of SDO’s contribution to our understanding of the sun,” said SDO project scientist Dean Pesnell of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
SDO is the first mission of NASA’s Living with a Star Program, or LWS, and the crown jewel in a fleet of NASA missions that study our sun and space environment. The goal of LWS is to develop the scientific understanding necessary to address those aspects of the connected sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. Goddard built, operates and manages the SDO spacecraft for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
To view the images and learn more about the SDO mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/sdo
-end-
======================
h/t to Dr. Leif Svalgaard
Dwayne C. Brown
Headquarters, Washington April 21, 2010
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov
Susan Hendrix
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-7745
susan.m.hendrix@nasa.gov
RELEASE: 10-091
NASA’S NEW EYE ON THE SUN DELIVERS STUNNING FIRST IMAGES
WASHINGTON – NASA’s recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, is returning early images that confirm an unprecedented new capability for scientists to better understand our sun’s dynamic processes. These solar activities affect everything on Earth.
Some of the images from the spacecraft show never-before-seen detail of material streaming outward and away from sunspots. Others show extreme close-ups of activity on the sun’s surface. The spacecraft also has made the first high-resolution measurements of solar flares in a broad range of extreme ultraviolet wavelengths.
“These initial images show a dynamic sun that I had never seen in more than 40 years of solar research,” said Richard Fisher, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “SDO will change our understanding of the sun and its processes, which affect our lives and society. This mission will have a huge impact on science, similar to the impact of the Hubble Space Telescope on modern astrophysics.”
Launched on Feb. 11, 2010, SDO is the most advanced spacecraft ever designed to study the sun. During its five-year mission, it will examine the sun’s magnetic field and also provide a better understanding of the role the sun plays in Earth’s atmospheric chemistry and climate. Since launch, engineers have been conducting testing and verification of the spacecraft’s components. Now fully operational, SDO will provide images with clarity 10 times better than high-definition television and will return more comprehensive science data faster than any other solar observing spacecraft.
SDO will determine how the sun’s magnetic field is generated, structured and converted into violent solar events such as turbulent solar wind, solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These immense clouds of material, when directed toward Earth, can cause large magnetic storms in our planet’s magnetosphere and upper atmosphere. SDO will provide critical data that will improve the ability to predict these space weather events.
Space weather has been recognized as a cause of technological problems since the invention of the telegraph in the 19th century. These events produce disturbances in electromagnetic fields on Earth that can induce extreme currents in wires, disrupting power lines and causing widespread blackouts. These solar storms can interfere with communications between ground controllers, satellites and airplane pilots flying near Earth’s poles. Radio noise from the storm also can disrupt cell phone service.
SDO will send 1.5 terabytes of data back to Earth each day, which is equivalent to a daily download of half a million songs onto an MP3 player. The observatory carries three state-of the-art instruments for conducting solar research.
The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager maps solar magnetic fields and looks beneath the sun’s opaque surface. The experiment will decipher the physics of the sun’s activity, taking pictures in several very narrow bands of visible light. Scientists will be able to make ultrasound images of the sun and study active regions in a way similar to watching sand shift in a desert dune. The instrument’s principal investigator is Phil Scherrer of Stanford University. HMI was built by a collaboration of Stanford University and the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory.
The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly is a group of four telescopes designed to photograph the sun’s surface and atmosphere. The instrument covers 10 different wavelength bands, or colors, selected to reveal key aspects of solar activity. These types of images will show details never seen before by scientists. The principal investigator is Alan Title of the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory in Palo Alto, Calif., which built the instrument.
The Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment measures fluctuations in the sun’s radiant emissions. These emissions have a direct and powerful effect on Earth’s upper atmosphere — heating it, puffing it up, and breaking apart atoms and molecules. Researchers don’t know how fast the sun can vary at many of these wavelengths, so they expect to make discoveries about flare events. The principal investigator is Tom Woods of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. LASP built the instrument.
“These amazing images, which show our dynamic sun in a new level of detail, are only the beginning of SDO’s contribution to our understanding of the sun,” said SDO project scientist Dean Pesnell of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
SDO is the first mission of NASA’s Living with a Star Program, or LWS, and the crown jewel in a fleet of NASA missions that study our sun and space environment. The goal of LWS is to develop the scientific understanding necessary to address those aspects of the connected sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. Goddard built, operates and manages the SDO spacecraft for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
To view the images and learn more about the SDO mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/sdo
-end-
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enneagram (08:46:05) :
This is a paradigm “shift”
http://www.holoscience.com/news.php?article=ah63dzac
No, this is invalid speculation.
“”” Leif Svalgaard (04:06:29) :
Grey Lensman (23:35:39) :
As you know magnetic field lines do not exist just as isobars do not exist. They are constructs to enable visualisation of magnetic field strength and direction. Dont be sloppy in the same fashion as warmers.
In a magnetized plasma, field lines acquire ‘existence’ by the virtue of matter being bound to them. It is a very useful construct going far beyond just visualization. ‘Existence’ is a slippery concept. E.g. does ‘time’ exist? “””
Well time is just a concoction to prevent everything from happening at once; otherwise a totally useless concept !
“”” Ale Gorney (19:28:48) :
just a heads up,
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/04/20/tarter.TED.SETI/index.html
SETI To Release Data To the Public
“Mountain View, California (CNN) — At this moment we have reached a major turning point for both science and the public at large. The SETI Institute is now offering the world the first taste of raw SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) data collected by the Allen Telescope Array in California. With this we move closer to fulfilling the institute’s mission, which is to search for our beginnings and our place among the stars
Throughout the institute’s 25-year history (we are a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to scientific research, education and public outreach), we have analyzed these raw data with custom algorithms operating on semi-custom hardware. Now we are transitioning to readily available hardware and servers because technology has caught up to us — hooray! “ “””
Hey ! A real scoop for WUWT; no need to wait for the big public announcement. Here is the entire 18 Sextillion Petabytes of Scientific data on observations of intelligent life “out there” :-
……….00000000, 00000000, 00000000, 00000000
Now isn’t that wonderful news to hear ?
Wow,
I see JAXA is reporting the largest amount of Arctic Sea Ice extent for this date ever recorded (at JAXA).
But it’s probably mostly ice that has turned sour.
George E. Smith (09:38:33) :
Well time is just a concoction to prevent everything from happening at once; otherwise a totally useless concept !
As a component of SpaceTime, time has a physical meaning.
And, to somebody paid by the hour, time is a very useful concept 🙂
George E. Smith (09:53:30) :That is a preparation well known by bar tenders: “Pisco Sour” ☺
Thank you for your comments.
Magnetic field lines are speculation. The fact that matter attaches to them is neither here nor there. water runs down slopes but contour lines, as shown on maps, do not exist.
try and reconnect a contour ‘line’
As with man made global warming, claims that 95% of the universe (or evidence) s missing is clear and simple falsification of the theory.
Thus to maintain the high ground, references to non existent lines should be amended.
GL
Grey Lensman (11:16:45) :
try and reconnect a contour ‘line’
That you cannot, but you can with field lines shows that contour lines are indeed just visualization, but field lines are not. Reconnection of field lines is a universal process, and is amply observed in the laboratory, e.g. http://mrx.pppl.gov/ no speculation there.
As with man made global warming, claims that 95% of the universe (or evidence) s missing is clear and simple falsification of the theory.
I think your world view gets in the way of rational thinking. There is nothing missing of the Universe. Dark matter is directly observed by its gravitational effects, e.g. by gravitational lensing. A spectacular example is http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090921.html
Thus to maintain the high ground
we should stick to what is directly observed and not mix in dislike of modern cosmology.
“”” Leif Svalgaard (18:27:24) :
George E. Smith (15:13:29) :
Do you know off-hand what sort of electric field strengths are to be found in these parts of the sun; just for order of magnitude reference ?
Now, it doesn’t make sense to talk about an electric field without specifying a reference frame. If you move with velocity v a conductor in a magnetic field B, then the electric field in the frame of the conductor will be of order E = v x B. With v = 100 m/s and B = 0.2 Tesla, E becomes of order 20 Volt/meter “””
Well it was a Volts per metre figure that I was looking for Leif; just to try and put it into perspective with the sorts of fields that can be found under say a storm cloud in the mid west.
George E. Smith (13:52:51) :
put it into perspective with the sorts of fields that can be found under say a storm cloud in the mid west.
Which something like 1000 V/m, if I recall correctly.
Graeme W (17:56:50) :
I just read in a newspaper report concerning the SDO:
Dean Pesnell, the chief scientist, said it has already disproved at least one theory, but he didn’t give any details.
Does anyone know what theory that might have been?
Here is one pre-SDO:
Scientists discover surprise in Earth’s upper atmosphere, September 09, 2009
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/scientists-discover-surprise-in-101025.aspx
“UCLA atmospheric scientists have discovered a previously unknown basic mode of energy transfer from the solar wind to the Earth’s magnetosphere.”
“We all have thought for our entire careers — I learned it as a graduate student — that this energy transfer rate is primarily controlled by the direction of the interplanetary magnetic field …”
“In our field, this finding is pretty earth-shaking. It’s an entire new mode of energy transfer…”
“Any space physicist, including me, would have said a year ago there could not be substorms when the interplanetary magnetic field was staying northward, but that’s wrong,”
“I’ve said it and taught it. Now I have to say, ‘But when you have these fluctuations, which is not a rare occurrence, you can have substorms going off once an hour.'”
George E. Smith (13:52:51) :
… the sorts of fields that can be found under say a storm cloud in the mid west.
http://www.missioninstruments.com/pages/learning/elec_fields.html
“… a “fair weather” electric field due to the positive charge overhead. When this “fair” field is measured by the EFS 1001 field mill, it can be seen to produce an output of from 50 to about 200 Volts per meter (“V/m”).
“Foul weather electric fields can reach values of well over 10,000 volts per meter at the ground during a storm.”
Bruce Armour (20:51:16) :
“UCLA atmospheric scientists have discovered a previously unknown basic mode of energy transfer from the solar wind to the Earth’s magnetosphere.”
“We all have thought for our entire careers — I learned it as a graduate student — that this energy transfer rate is primarily controlled by the direction of the interplanetary magnetic field
Is a typical example of the [untrue] hype that unfortunately is often used to justify or glorify current [and hopefully, future] research.
The theory that the magnetosphere is a ‘interplanetary magnetic field rectifier’ in the sense that there is no interaction for northwards field came out of UCLA in the 1970s, so perhaps the author has been under the influence of local folklore.
The rest of us have always known that you can get a response for any direction of the IMF [albeit biggest when southwards].
@ur momisugly Leif Svalgaard (09:59:02) :
As a component of SpaceTime, time has a physical meaning.
And, to somebody paid by the hour, time is a very useful concept 🙂
What is time’s physical composition, though?
Of course, the second sentence is irrefutable. 🙂
Leif Svalgaard (21:21:29) :
to Bruce Armour (20:51:16) :
The rest of us have always known that you can get a response for any direction of the IMF [albeit biggest when southwards].
Look at Figure 14 of http://www.leif.org/research/suipr699.pdf that shows the response [Y axis] for different directions of the IMF [cos a = -1 is southwards, cos a = +1 is northwards, the other curves are intermediate] as a function of the variance, f [fluctuations], of the IMF. When f = 1, the field varies as much as it can. When f = 0, the field is rock steady]. You can see that for f = 0, the response [am] is ten times as large for southwards fields than for northwards fields, while as the fluctuations increase the two curves converge, and at f = +1 [maximal variance], there is no difference or dependence on the direction. The text of the [long] paper explains why.
Dave F (22:09:15) :
What is time’s physical composition, though?
As a component of spacetime, the ‘composition’ is vacuum. The vacuum is teeming with virtual particles, e.g. electrons. All electrons are identical, perhaps because there is only one electron, encoded as a property of the vacuum, and similarly for the other particles. But ‘existence’ is not limited to something that has a ‘composition’. Are we not getting way off topic now?
Interesting discussion, had a go at it myself few times in past.
This time just a brief comment.
Since I disagree with prevailing view of solar scientists regarding the solar currents and magnetic fields, some time ago I assembled for my own use, a logic synthesis of existing ideas leading to an alternative view.
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/LFC5.htm
SDJ on SC24 has made available Debrecen data which clearly show a longitudinal asymmetry distribution in the solar activity as it can be seen in this polar diagram.
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/LFC7.htm
I hope SDO may be able to provide an insight in this puzzling phenomenon.
vukcevic (00:56:47) :
I assembled for my own use, a logic synthesis of existing ideas leading to an alternative view.
The flaw in your scheme is that Alfven’s polar current changes direction at solar maximum, while sunspots change polarities at solar minimum.
Leif Svalgaard (04:43:56) :
“……..that Alfven’s polar current changes direction at solar maximum, while sunspots change polarities at solar minimum.”
Precisely.
Dr. Svalgaard bear in mind this an AC system where flux and the induced emf are 90 degrees out of phase, hence the Alfven’s current and the sunspots polarity are out of phase relationship.
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/PHYS1111/acc/acc3.gif
comment is relating to: http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/LFC5.htm
vukcevic (05:13:16) :
Dr. Svalgaard bear in mind this an AC system where flux and the induced emf are 90 degrees out of phase
Nonsense, as the phase is in time: 5 years. The induced emf does not come 5 years after the flux changes.
Leif Svalgaard (05:30:21) :
vukcevic (05:13:16) :
Dr. Svalgaard bear in mind this an AC system where flux and the induced emf are 90 degrees out of phase
Apart from that Alfven’s current system doesn’t really exist. There is no ‘polar current’, and the HCS current near the Sun is not radial but azimuthal [as the magnetic field is nearly radial].
Leif Svalgaard (05:30:21) :
“The induced emf does not come 5 years after the flux changes.”
AC Flux vs. induced emf phase relationship is one of fundamentals of physics and is defined by period of oscillation, in this case the solar oscillation.
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/SSC.gif
“Apart from that Alfven’s current system doesn’t really exist. There is no ‘polar current’…”
Psychiatrist might say: “A denial is the first step towards recovery of despair.
( comment is relating to: http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/LFC5.htm )
vukcevic (07:10:04) :
AC Flux vs. induced emf phase relationship is one of fundamentals of physics and is defined by period of oscillation, in this case the solar oscillation.
Since there is no large-scale current with a 22-year period, there is no AC and no induced emf.
Psychiatrist might say: “A denial is the first step towards recovery of despair.
Nature denies your ideas, and you deny that they are nonsense.
Leif Svalgaard (07:26:55) :
“Since there is no large-scale current with a 22-year period, there is no AC and no induced emf.”
The 22 year cycle of an electric current flow can be only detected by materialization of its physical consequence, the magnetic field cycle of the same duration.
The electric current’s 22 year cycle is result of the modulation (loading) by the planetary magnetospheres of the said current, which is so neatly demonstrated by my formula.
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/SSC.gif
The alternative you uphold is the reverse: any currents are result of the 22 year magnetic field cycle. That could be a possible alternative if you had a credible hypotheses demonstrating physical existence of an internal source (or cause) of such cycle. There is no scientific consensus on what the so called ‘solar dynamo’ is, or how it functions to produce the 22 year cycle.
My hypothesis has all elements necessary for an oscillating system with 22 year period and does not require the ill-defined internal dynamo.
( comment is relating to: http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/LFC5.htm )