NASA | SDO's Instruments: AIA

SDO Project Scientist Dean Pesnell explains how the SDO's Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument suite will allow us to take pictures of the sun at multiple temperatures and at resolutions never before seen.

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[Shaunt]

I'm glad they're studying the sun it is the key to almost all energy, and life.

[RigoJancsi]

@ ICAN: Sunspots are not black at all. They are dark compared to the surrounding surface, but still quite brilliantly lit! And even if sunspots are not fully understood, it's clear that they are no black holes, even if they resemble the popular images of them.

[RigoJancsi]

@Gemini: What law of physics do you talk about that would stop something here on this planet to rotate and go the other direction? Because as far as I learned in my mechanics classes, any movement, also turning, will go on forever, unless you have friction or other forces applied. Maybe some magnetic and gravitational forces (moon!) influence the speed, but to stop a planet, you need some giant force...

[adamb]

damn it didnt go - so when is the next planned launch? hopefully its 2nd time lucky like endeavour =]

[GeminiAzules]

fictitious force and The Coriolis effect. id say the black hole that holds our galaxy together is a pretty major force.. however i doubt it would cause our planet to actually circle the Sun in a different direction since all of the stars in the galaxy are rotating around its center in the same direction.

I am curious though, is there a common direction that planets and solar systems spin based on their location in the Galaxy?

[jufulu]

To be honest, I can't figure out what you are trying to say here, but I'm going to try to give an answer.

A theory ties various facts together in an attempt to explain a phenomena. The theory gets tested against new facts to see if continues to hold together. Theories also make predictions on future occurrences of the phenomena. When the theory doesn't match the new facts and or prediction it gets changed or dropped.

[supersetan]

They (scientist) doesn't see black hole directly, but by looking for plasma and other radiation that ejected when stellar dust/masses get consumed by black hole. If i remember correctly, our milky way have no or little of this ejection, because not having enough stellar material to be consumed by our blackhole. Other way is by observing fast revolving stars near the center of a galaxy.

[supersetan]

The sun is not "the key", but the Sun IS the only source of energy beside geothermal and maybe nuclear fision/fusion.

[nickrose]

A theory in science isn't a guess, its another name for an explanation.

[ICANanimations]

I came up with another crazy idea
those sunspots look really like what I imagined blackholes would look like.
what do you think

[jufulu]

The process is self correcting. When a theory has been put through the ringer for long enough, and nothing comes along that refutes it, there is a tendency to call it "true".

This is in response to Lugia531.

[supersetan]

Our solar system is always within our galactic plane, with about 5 degrees difference. Sun-earth-milkyway galaxy center are always in a line once every year.

[GeminiAzules]

yeh. but not only that, its going to do it at the same time our solar system is passing through the galactic plane of our galaxy.

I wonder if the laws of physics are the same in our galaxy as they are on the planet.... if so, wouldn't that make all of the planets stop and then begin spinning in the other direction?

[alecbg]

Before you can test something you normally "guess" what it is first.

[ICANanimations]

is it true that the sun is going to switch poles? and that it can lift a planet of it's axes?

[supersetan]

Sun switch poles every 11 years. As you probably notice, earth doesn't "lifted" every 11 years.

[GeminiAzules]

What causes our solar system to want to move up and down through the plane of the galaxy?

[Prince]

سبحان الله الذي خلق كل شيء

Glory of God who created everything

[Jeorney]

We're no longer blinded by the light.

[artemgubert]

Far better than _Cosmos A Spacetime Odyssey_