Ahrcanum

A full-disk multiwavelength extreme ultraviolet image of the sun taken by SDO on March 30, 2010

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, SDO the space telescope designed to study the sun released it’s first images this week and they are spectacular.

Launched on February 11th from Cape Canaveral, the observatory has spent the past two months moving into a geosynchronous orbit and activating its instruments. As soon as SDO’s telescope doors opened, the spacecraft began beaming back scenes so beautiful and puzzlingly complex that even seasoned observers were stunned, reported NASA.

“The Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) is performing splendidly,” reports HMI principal investigator Phil Scherrer of Stanford University. “We’re getting very high-quality, high signal-to-noise data.”

The Extreme UV Variability Experiment (EVE) is online, too, “and we’re getting great data as well,” says principal investigator Tom Woods of the University of Colorado, Boulder.

EVE monitors the sun where it is most variable—in the extreme UV part of the electromagnetic spectrum. At these wavelengths, the brightness of the sun can rise and fall a hundredfold in the blink of an eye, heating and “puffing up” Earth’s upper atmosphere, and dragging down satellites. EVE measures these changes with unprecedented time and spectral resolution.  http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/21apr_firstlight/

HMI and EVE and the entire SDO seems to be operating splendidly, but unfortunately it took three weeks for NASA to reveal any images. Unprecedented time should allow for real time images, but us mere earthlings will have to wait another month for daily images.  The implications of such detailed events on the sun will surely have this tinfoil hat wearing observer looking to coordinate data, to earth events like volcano’s and earthquakes.

The observatory is still being commissioned, and a good deal of testing and calibration remains to be done before regular, daily images become available in mid-May.

SOHO MDI Image. A bald sun for today.

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 8 days
2010 total: 15 days (13%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 785 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days via http://www.spaceweather.com/

All looks calm on the sun today, unless you look at the images from STEREO from behind. 

Itunes offers a free app for SOHO (SOHO Viewer) and also STEREO (3D Sun) and for $1.99 the Solar Monitor app is well worth it in providing additional information with the images.  All three are in near real time.

Someone needs to comes up with an application that links solar activity to earthquakes and volcano’s, but it won’t be me.  Maybe take it farther to coordinate with seismographs around the world?

If one exists, do tell or share your favorite app or link in the comment section for space and science news.

While the sun has had no sunspots for 8 days, here on the 3rd planet  from the sun, Earth is still tumultuous.

There have been three 5+M Earthquakes this morning alone: Bio Bio Chile 5.9M, Eastern New Guinea 5.3M, Guam 5.4.

The Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland has ongoing eruptions. http://en.vedur.is/Much of Europe air travel seems to be operational, either flying above or below the invisible ash cloud. The Shiveluch, and Kliuchevskoi volcano’s in Russia are showing increased seismic activity and increased thermal anomalies as well. 

The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System provides near real-time alerts about natural disasters around the world at http://www.gdacs.org/ 

A pat on the back to The Solar Dynamics Observatory team.  Now get busy so we can see what’s going on up there, because down here the Earth sure seems pissed.  

Mmmm, I wonder if you turned the SDO toward earth for images what we would discover. 

Don’t for forget about the LYRID METEOR SHOWER: It peaked yesterday, April 22nd and is caused by the Earth passing through a stream of debris from Comet Thatcher (C/1861 G1). The best time to look is during the hours before dawn.

For more information about NASA TV downlinks and streaming video, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv 

Solar Dynamics Observatory — home page

SDO, The Variable Sun Mission — (Science@NASA)

HT to http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/04/21/solar-dynamics-observatory-first-images-to-be-released-today/

“Carpe diem. Seize the day.” 

Read Full Post »