NASA Gets Another Look at Sun

Thursday, April 22 • 03:59 AM
On February 11, 2010, NASA launched their state-of-the-art Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) into space. This satellite is designed specifically to study the sun. On April 21, 2010, NASA unveiled the first images received from that satellite, and they’re amazing!
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Each day NASA is receiving 1.5 terabytes (1,500 GB) of data from SDO. On a 5 year mission, this data will contain information about the sun’s surface and atmosphere, measure fluctuations in the sun’s radiant emissions, map the solar magnetic fields, and look beneath the sun’s surface.

One thing that is amazing about the SDO is the advance technology. From NASA’s website:

“The 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.”



With changes made by President Obama to the NASA program, the success of this mission reminds us that real science is being pursued and that interest in the space program is well worth the cost.