The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) YEAR 5

Five Years of Solar Spectacle: Celebrating NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)

As of February 11, 2015, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has been orbiting in space for five remarkable years, offering unparalleled views of the entire sun 24 hours a day. This revolutionary observatory captures images at a rate of more than once per second, providing an unprecedented, clear picture of the sun's explosive activities since its launch on Feb. 11, 2010.

In commemoration of SDO's fifth anniversary, NASA presents a captivating video highlighting the most breathtaking moments from the past five years of sun observation. Witness colossal clouds of solar material ejected into space, the mesmerizing dance of enormous loops in the sun's corona, and the dynamic growth and contraction of vast sunspots on the solar surface.

This imagery serves as a glimpse into the valuable data SDO provides to scientists. By observing the sun in different wavelengths, revealing various temperatures, scientists gain insights into the movement of material through the corona. This holds clues to the causes of solar eruptions, the mystery behind heating the sun's atmosphere to temperatures 1,000 times hotter than its surface, and the dynamic behavior of the sun's magnetic fields.

Five years into its mission, SDO continues to capture tantalizing imagery, stoking scientists' curiosity. In late 2014, SDO recorded the largest sunspots since 1995 and a series of intense solar flares. Solar flares, bursts of light, energy, and X-rays, are intriguing phenomena. Scientists are currently examining the data to understand the circumstances that led to these flare eruptions without accompanying coronal mass ejections (CMEs), a somewhat unusual occurrence.

Goddard Space Flight Center oversees the construction, operation, and management of the SDO spacecraft for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. As the first mission in NASA's Living with a Star Program, SDO contributes to developing the scientific understanding needed to address the sun-Earth system's aspects directly impacting our lives and society.

Highlights from the Solar Dynamics Observatory's five years of watching the sun.

The music is "Expanding Universe" and "Facing the Unknown" both from Killer Tracks

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO

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