News & Resources

 

SDO Mission Blog

SDO IS GO

This is the Solar Dynamics Observatory Mission blog. It will consist of mission status, news, and event updates.

[+] SDO Launched Three Years Ago - Mon, 11 Feb

Mon, 11 Feb


Three years ago, the Solar Dynamics Observatory was launched into orbit atop an Atlas V rocket. Here is a NASA video showing the launch and the amazing waves that rippled away from the rocket has we passed through a sundog. We were launched to "learn why our star is changing our lives." Since then we have been busy doing that. SDO data is helping us understand how the million-Kelvin corona is heated, letting us watch magnetic recombination take place, and understand how the magnetic field creates solar activity. Our data has been examined by people around the world, using the SDO websites and HelioViewer. 

SDO is a great mission and we look forward to the next year of spectacular data!

 

[+] Atmosphere Dragging You Down? - Fri, 08 Feb

Fri, 08 Feb

The upper atmosphere of the Earth responds very quickly to the Sun. Here is a brand-new app that lets you know what the temperature and density of the upper atmosphere is. It is the MSIS model on your phone!

You can look up values or draw plots of the density and temperature. Here is an example of the temperature.

It may be a pretty good vacuum up there, but it brings down satellites and produces the ionosphere that interferes with radio waves. Available free from the iTunes store. An explanation is available at the MSISatmos webpage.

Enjoy!

 

[+] Making the Rounds - Fri, 01 Feb

Fri, 01 Feb

Early on Jan. 31, 2013, SDO observed a phenomenon in AIA 304 that most of us do not recall ever seeing before: a ring-shaped filament that lay flat above the Sun’s surface. Plasma streamed along the magnetic field lines in both directions along the field lines. Before long, the filament became unstable and erupted in a large swirl with most of the materials falling back into the Sun. A small filament that was behind the larger erupting filament is reveled by the eruption. The video clip  in the SDO Gallery covers about eight hours of activity. You never know what you are going to see next.

 

[+] EVE Field of View and HMI/AIA Flatfield Today - Wed, 30 Jan

Wed, 30 Jan

Today, starting at 1315 UTC (8:15 am ET), SDO will execute the EVE Field of View maneuver followed by the HMI/AIA Flatfield at 1630 UTC (11:30 am ET). During these maneuvers the science data will be interrupted. These maneuvers and last weeks' Delta-H thruster firing were flipped in the schedule published earlier.

 

[+] Momentum Management Maneuver Today - Wed, 23 Jan

Wed, 23 Jan

Today at 1946 UTC (2:46 pm ET) SDO will fire its thrusters to change the spin rates on the reaction wheels. The science data will stop at about 1940 UTC and resume at 2006 UTC. We use these reaction wheels to keep SDO pointing at the Sun. They change their speed as SDO orbits the Earth to counteract the torques caused by solar radiation pressure, magnetic dipole, and the gravity gradient in our orbit, and the high gain antennas. When the rates approach the limits, we use the thrusters to drive them back. UPDATE: The thrusters fired successfully and used 66 grams of propellant during the burn.

 

[+] Ben Franklin's Birthday - Thu, 17 Jan

Thu, 17 Jan

January 17 is the birthday of Benjamin Franklin, born this date in 1706. He was a scientist, diplomat, and printer. He also studied sunspots. In a letter to Humphry Marshall he wrote "It is however remarkable that tho’ large Spots are seen gradually to become small ones, no one has observ’d a small Spot gradually to become a large one; at least I do not remember to have met with such an Observation."

This letter was sent in February 1773 from Franklin in London to Marshall in Pennsylvania. At this time an ongoing scientific debate was whether science in England was the same as science in the North American colonies. Franklin synchronized experiments on both sides of the Atlantic to explore whether electricity behaved the same. Observations of the Sun were part of this effort.

Happy Birthday, Ben!

 

[+] SDO Maneuvers for Early 2013 - Wed, 02 Jan

Wed, 02 Jan

We have announced maneuvers and special operations for the first eight months of 2013
16-Jan-2013: EVE Cruciform
23-Jan-2013: EVE FOV & HMI\AIA Flat Field
30-Jan-2013: Delta-H #13
17-Feb-2013: Handover Season Begins
03-Mar-2013: Eclipse Season Begins
07-Mar-2013: Solar RFI (~418 seconds)
08-Mar-2013: Solar RFI (~440 seconds)
20-Mar-2013: Station Keeping Maneuver #06
25-Mar-2013: Eclipse Season Ends
10-May-2013: Handover Season Ends
06-Aug-2013: Lunar Transit (~76 minutes)
Each maneuver comes with a loss of solar pointing or interference with the radio downlink.