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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vukcevic (10:47:43) :
The electric current’s 22 year cycle is result of the modulation (loading) by the planetary magnetospheres of the said current
The alternative you uphold is the reverse: any currents are result of the 22 year magnetic field cycle.
As we have discussed so many times [and still you haven’t learned anything] there are no electric currents creating the solar cycle due to modulations by planetary magnetospheres.
The is general agreement that dynamos create the cycles, on the sun, on stars, and even the magnetic field of the Earth. The dynamo is not ‘ill-defined’. That you don’t know how it operates is not a valid argument. SDO [to get back on topic] will likely provide us with the details [internal flows] we need to know to improve the dynamo to the point where it can be useful for prediction.
Your formula is no more physical than Kepler’s polyhedra model of the solar system: http://www.georgehart.com/virtual-polyhedra/figs/kepler-spheres-1.jpg
The state of science is sad, indeed.
Leif Svalgaard (11:48:47)
“The dynamo is not ‘ill-defined’. That you don’t know how it operates is not a valid argument.”
Solar dynamo is indeed ill-defined, since whole plethora of scientists including Svalgaard, Hathaway and many others are unable to positively identify a credible reason for the 22 year cycle.
I am not saying I am right and you are wrong, possibly neither is right.
My hypothesis has all elements to explain 22 year cycle. Instead of persistent ‘rubbishing’ it, you should ask yourself why the formula
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/SSC.gif
is a good aproximation and what physical factors may be at play.
Hypotesising with no possesion of a sufficient knowledge is superior to a dismisal for the lack of the same.
vukcevic (13:07:03) :
Solar dynamo is indeed ill-defined, since whole plethora of scientists including Svalgaard, Hathaway and many others are unable to positively identify a credible reason for the 22 year cycle.
Here is how the dynamo works:
http://solarphysics.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrsp-2005-2/
come back when you have elaborated your ‘hypothesis’ to a similar level.
vukcevic (13:07:03) :
Hypotesising with no possesion of a sufficient knowledge is superior to a dismissal for the lack of the same.
If you don’t know anything, everything is possible. Prudent behavior in face of lack of knowledge is not to hypothesize. You have been blinded as was Kepler by an idea. As with Kepler, there is no valid physics behind it, and the approximation is not at all good. Show the result of the formula since 1600. Now, just as with the epicycles, if things don’t fit, postulate another formula for the differences, etc ad infinitum.
A classic global warming style oxymoron.
Quote
Dark matter is directly observed by its gravitational effects, e.g. by gravitational lensing.
Unquote
indirect, supposition and pure invention, not science. seems you need to join the global warming school
dark matter, the mythical glue that holds together a fake theory, just as falling temperatures falsify fake global warming ergo we get “climate change”.
Grey Lensman (19:35:41) :
“Dark matter is directly observed by its gravitational effects, e.g. by gravitational lensing.”
indirect, supposition and pure invention, not science.
Neptune was discovered by observing its direct gravitational effect on Uranus’ obit, but perhaps that was not science, but pure invention, too.
Your post reeks.
Grey Lensman (19:35:41) :
indirect, supposition and pure invention, not science.
Study this carefully: http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1004/1004.3869v1.pdf
to learn why dark matter is generally accepted.
Leif Svalgaard (15:04:34) & (15:42:54)
………..
It would be far too portentous that I would compare myself to Kepler, but thanks for the compliment. Will read the article, but is the title “Dynamo Models of the Solar Cycle” a first sign of ambiguity, more than one, akin to climate models ?
“…………Show the result of the formula since 1600.”
Your challenge is a ‘peace of cake’, formula is exactly the same with a phase shift of 90 degrees around 1800
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/LFC11.htm
something which we may experience during next two cycles.
Dave F (22:09:15) :
@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
————————————————————-
Interesting question. Just watched Brian Cox’s ‘Whats up with gravity’ on Youtube. I don’t recall any explanation as to what time is other than the word ‘fabric of space/time’. Time could the a construct of our imagination, a way to describe the distance between point A and point B.
On a daily basis time changes have to be dialed up to the GPS flotilla of satellites to correct their speeding clocks which drift forward ahead of ours on earth because time is faster up there than it is down there. So, is time
a particle? a wave? a Graviton like thing? Does something ‘carry it’. Is it something we could capture and trap? When doing particle calculations, do they have to deduct for the expelling of energy or mass because of expelling of ‘Timetons’?
vukcevic (00:25:43) :
but is the title “Dynamo Models of the Solar Cycle” a first sign of ambiguity, more than one, akin to climate models ?
Not ambiguity, but diversity. Depending on boundary conditions, the dynamo(s) can work in different ways. One of the goals of SDO is to narrow down potential candidates.
same with a phase shift of 90 degrees around 1800
Convenient phase shifts invoked to rescue a flawed idea is a common pseudo-science trick.
johnnythelowery (07:08:41) :
Time could the a construct of our imagination, a way to describe the distance between point A and point B.
Imagined things do not change with physical condition. Time ‘flows’ differently in a different gravitational field [stronger gravity slows time]. Time ‘flows’ differently at different relative speeds [at the speed of light there is no time].
Leif Svalgaard (07:16:00) :
“Not ambiguity, but diversity. Depending on boundary conditions the dynamo(s) can work in different ways ………..”
That is an odd cop out, coming from the most rigorous science surveyor.
Heard that somewhere else?
Not ambiguity, but diversity. Depending on boundary conditions, the CO2 can work in different ways !
“Convenient phase shifts invoked to rescue a flawed idea is a common pseudo-science trick.”
Not so, no ambiguity, no diversity in my hypothesis. Remember phase shifts are fundamentals in the physics of reflection, refraction and modulation of waves (cycles).
Still going strong.
TTFN (Ta Ta For Now).
Leif Svalgaard (07:45:41) :
johnnythelowery (07:08:41) :
Time could be the a construct of our imagination, a way to describe the distance between point A and point B.
Imagined things do not change with physical condition. Time ‘flows’ differently in a different gravitational field [stronger gravity slows time]. Time ‘flows’ differently at different relative speeds [at the speed of light there is no time].
————————————————————
A) Is the denotion ‘time’ talking about an actual ‘thing’?
B) Is this ‘thing’ a wave, a particle, a timeton,…?
vukcevic (08:05:51) :
Still going strong.
No doubt your faith is strong.
johnnythelowery (08:57:24) :
A) Is the denotion ‘time’ talking about an actual ‘thing’?
What is a ‘thing’? Is ‘religion’ a ‘thing’? Does religion exist? What does ‘exist’ mean? In quantum mechanics, ‘things’ may only exist when they are observed. Now, get back to the topic, which is SDO.
@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.
Easy, Langoliers.
Leif Svalgaard (21:39:57) :
Neptune was discovered by observing its direct gravitational effect on Uranus’ obit, but perhaps that was not science, but pure invention, too.
Your post reeks.
Likewise, Pluto was discovered because of perturbations in Neptune’s orbit, though later Pluto and Charon hardly had the mass to have done the job. Newtonian calculations hardly predicted Pluto’s jaunty tilt or 3:2 resonance with Neptune. In this sense you have used a selective argument regarding implied gravitational effects.
Zeke the Sneak (11:41:24) :
Likewise, Pluto was discovered because of perturbations in Neptune’s orbit,
No, it wasn’t. As you point out, its mass was not large enough, and the assumed size of the orbit was wrong, too. Pluto was discovered by accident:
“11:05 From Planet X to Pluto: Predictions, Searches, Discovery, Calculations
DONALD E. OSTERBROCK, Lick Observatory.
[…] Ernest W. Brown almost immediately concluded that the prediction was not a true one, but resulted largely from errors in the earliest pre-discovery positions of Uranus.”
Zeke the Sneak (11:41:24)
Hi Zeke
Talking about the outer planets, there is also the Uranus’ magnetic anomaly.
Despite orientation of its rotation axes, Uranus’ magnetic field is roughly perpendicular to the celestial equator as is for the rest of the (magnetic) planets.
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/LFC14.htm
One might speculate that this odd phenomenon points to some kind of as yet unknown magnetic linkage between the magnetic bodies of the solar system.
vukcevic (13:09:27) :
One might speculate that this odd phenomenon points to some kind of as yet unknown magnetic linkage between the magnetic bodies of the solar system.
This would be just as nonsensical as your other speculations. There are no magnetic linkages. Magnetic fields decrease with the cube of the distance, so unless you have a flow of plasma carrying the frozen-in field around, you don’t get any linkage. The solar wind plasma effectively precludes any other ‘winds’ as they would be swept up and carried outwards.
Dr S, in saying this you are writing Percival Lowell and William Pickering out of history. While some astronomers did believe that the residuals in Uranus’ orbit did not mean anything, others began to look for a trans-Neptunian planet. These men went to great personal effort and expense because of Newtonian physics and did find the planet. (At least, it was discovered from the Lowell Observatory, by a gifted and persistent amatuer, a farm boy.)
But gravity did not explain the perterbations, nor anything about Pluto at all. And Neptune does not explain entirely Uranus’ residuals, according to some.
And of course Pluto/Charon was too small! But they did not know that until after it had been discovered!
Dr S, in saying this you are writing Percival Lowell and William Pickering out of history. While some astronomers did believe that the residuals in Uranus’ orbit did not mean anything, others began to look for a trans-Neptunian planet. These men went to great personal effort and expense because of Newtonian physics and did find the planet. (At least, it was discovered from the Lowell Observatory, by a gifted and persistent amatuer, a farm boy.)
But gravity did not explain the perterbations, nor very much about Pluto at all. And Neptune does not explain entirely Uranus’ residuals, according to some.
And of course it was too small! But they did not know that until after it had been discovered!
Leif Svalgaard (13:16:44)
“so unless you have a flow of plasma carrying the frozen-in field around, you don’t get any linkage.”
I did not say or speculate what the linkage might be, so if you speculate it could be the plasma (frozen or not, despite the magnetospheres’ deflections ?) it is fine with me. Any other ideas ?
Re: http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/LFC14.htm
vukcevic (13:09:27) :
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/LFC14.htm
Very nice graphic!
Too bad Pluto got demoted; it would look good there, as it has a similar axial tilt to Uranus.
My money goes with Pluto having a magnetic field, and that it will have a similar magnetic axis with Uranus and Neptune. 🙂
Zeke the Sneak (13:27:37) :
Dr S, in saying this you are writing Percival Lowell and William Pickering out of history.
Of course not. They found it because Clyde Tombaugh searched patiently [and great credit to him for that] for decades. Not because of a valid prediction. By contrast, Neptune was found within a few days after the prediction was delivered.
vukcevic (13:47:20) :
I did not say or speculate what the linkage might be, so if you speculate it could be the plasma (frozen or not, despite the magnetospheres’ deflections ?) it is fine with me. Any other ideas ?
If it is not plasma, then there can be no other way. Just like geomagnetic activity would be impossible with solar wind plasma, as Lord Kelvin showed so long ago. The nonsense comes in by assuming that may be magnetic linkage somehow [why not Angels? more people believe in angels influencing things than in magnetic fields]. There can be many explanations. We don’t know yet what to make of it. At times, even the Earth may look that this, e.g. during polarity reversals. But, as before, “if you don’t know anything, everything is possible”.