Video: 133 days on the sun

This video chronicles solar exercise from Aug. 12 to Dec. 22, 2022, as captured by NASA’s Photo voltaic Dynamics Observatory (SDO). From its orbit in space round Earth, SDO has steadily imaged the sun in 4K x 4K decision for almost 13 years. This data has enabled numerous new discoveries in regards to the workings of our closest star and the way it influences the solar system.

With a triad of devices, SDO captures a picture of the sun each 0.75 seconds. The Atmospheric Imaging Meeting (AIA) instrument alone captures photographs each 12 seconds at 10 completely different wavelengths of sunshine. This 133-day time lapse showcases photographs taken at a wavelength of 17.1 nanometers, which is an extreme-ultraviolet wavelength that exhibits the sun’s outermost atmospheric layer: the corona.

Compiling photographs taken 108 seconds aside, the film condenses 133 days, or about 4 months, of solar observations into 59 minutes. The video exhibits brilliant lively areas passing throughout the face of the sun because it rotates. The sun rotates roughly as soon as each 27 days. The loops extending above the intense areas are magnetic fields which have trapped scorching, glowing plasma. These brilliant areas are additionally the supply of solar flares, which seem as brilliant flashes as magnetic fields snap collectively in a course of known as magnetic reconnection.

Whereas SDO has stored an unblinking eye pointed towards the sun, there have been a number of moments it missed. A number of the darkish frames within the video are brought on by Earth or the moon eclipsing SDO as they move between the spacecraft and the sun. Different blackouts are brought on by instrumentation being down or information errors. SDO transmits 1.4 terabytes of information to the bottom each day. The photographs the place the sun is off-center have been noticed when SDO was calibrating its devices.

SDO and different NASA missions will proceed to observe our sun within the years to return, offering additional insights about our place in space and knowledge to maintain our astronauts and belongings protected.

The video’s music is a steady combine from Lars Leonhard’s “Geometric Shapes” album, courtesy of the artist.