NASA | Solar Dynamics Observatory : Year 5 Video
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO

February 11, 2015 marks five years in space for NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which provides incredibly detailed images of the whole sun 24 hours a day. Capturing an image more than once per second, SDO has provided an unprecedentedly clear picture of how massive explosions on the sun grow and erupt ever since its launch on Feb. 11, 2010. The imagery is also captivating, allowing one to watch the constant ballet of solar material through the sun's atmosphere, the corona. 




In honour of SDO's fifth anniversary, NASA has released a video showcasing highlights from the last five years of sun watching. Watch the movie to see giant clouds of solar material hurled out into space, the dance of giant loops hovering in the corona, and huge sunspots growing and shrinking on the sun's surface.

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: Solar Dynamics Observatory/NASA.

This incredible solar filament looked absolutely spectacular on the surface of the Sun today (9th February 2015) in Hydrogen Alpha…the science behind it is just amazing!

Images taken with a 80mm Lunt Solar Telescope and a Canon 700D camera with a 2x barlow lens, 30 images stacked in RegiStack6 and processed in PS CS4.

The colour image is the H-alpha colour as seen in the solar scope and is a composite of two images one for the disc and one to show the prominences.

The black and white image is not a composite; I captured it with the same camera but used the Monochrome setting…I find it gives more delicate detail in the prominences. (East is to the top and West is to the bottom) 

Snaking Filament
A dark, solar filament hovered above the Sun's surface, extending across more than half the Sun (Feb. 7-10, 2015). If that filament were straightened out, it would be more than 533,000 miles long (1,000,000 km), longer than 67 Earths.

These images were taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet wavelength of light of material heated to about 60,000 degrees C. Filaments are cooler clouds of particles tethered above the Sun by powerful magnetic forces. Though this one has been fairly stable for many days, they are liable to break apart at any time.
Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory/NASA. 

If you would like to know all about this amazing solar observatory please click on the link below:

SDO Our Eye on the Sun 
A Guide to the Mission and Purpose of NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory
(Please note, the pdf file takes a little time to load as it’s 14.3mb, but it’s full of wonderful information about the solar observatory and the Sun)

The Sun was very interesting today (6th February 2015) with a huge filament on the solar surface and a pretty fountain like prominence on the eastern limb. There were also many very delicate prominences all around the solar disc too, which showed up a lot better in my black and white image. (East is to the top and West is to the bottom) 

Images taken with a 80mm Lunt Solar Telescope and a Canon 700D camera with a 2x barlow lens, 20 images stacked in RegiStack6 and processed in PS CS4.

The colour image is the H-alpha colour as seen in the solar scope and is a composite of two images one for the disc and one for the prominences.

The black and white image is not a composite; I captured it with the same camera but used the Monochrome setting…I find it gives more detail in the prominences :-)