SDO | Solar Dynamics Observatory
SDO is designed to help us understand the Sun's influence on Earth and Near-Earth space by studying the solar atmosphere on small scales of space and time and in many wavelengths simultaneously.
SDO Movies
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NEWSROOM 
- SDO Spins Its Way Closer to Launch
- Engineers at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., recently tested NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to determine its mass properties. SDO, the first mission of NASA's Living With a Star program, will study the sun's atmosphere in unprecedented detail to reveal how variations on the sun influence Earth and nearby space.
- Deep Solar Minimum
- The sunspot cycle is behaving a little like the stock market. Just when you think it has hit bottom, it goes even lower. 2008 was a bear. There were no sunspots observed on 266 of the year's 366 days (73%). To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go all the way back to 1913, which had 311 spotless days: plot. Prompted by these numbers, some observers suggested that the solar cycle had hit bottom in 2008. Maybe not. Sunspot counts for 2009 have dropped even lower. As of March 31st, there were no sunspots on 78 of the year's 90 days (87%).
- Here Comes The Sun
- Since even before the dawn of civilization, the sun has been essential in farming, religion, and telling time. It's a star that's been worshipped and studied, and so to celebrate our 30th anniversary, correspondent Martha Teichner looks at the history of the sun, as well as a look forward to the future.
THE SDO SPACECRAFT
- About the SDO Spacecraft
SDO INTERACTIVE
- Spin, rotate, and click on the SDO spacecraft using this new interactive application
INTEGRATION & TESTING
- Photos of Integration and Testing Milestones
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