NASA's phenomenal Solar Dynamics Observatory has spent just over a year in space. During that time it has ceaselessly observed the Sun, returning incredibly detailed and exquisite images and videos. In high resolution we've seen sunspots, flares, coronal mass ejections, filaments, prominences, and towering loops of magnetic plasma. To celebrate, the folks at SDO put together this video featuring 12 of their favorite clips. I've written about several of these myself in the past year (see Related Posts below). Make sure you set the resolution to 720p!
[embed width="610"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_MKL_fjDLo[/embed]
You can go to the SDO page
to get a list of what you're seeing. In a related bit of news, NASA is asking people to vote on their favorite short video from SDO
. Many of those clips are also in the above video, but they're also listed separately on the NASA contest page. I know which one is my favorite... but I'm not telling. The voting closes May 5th.
Related posts: - When the Earth takes a bite out of the Sun - An eclipse from space with a two-way Moon - kaBLAM! Footage of the X-class solar flare - Sunspot 1158 ain't done yet - First earthward-heading solar flare of the cycle - The birth of sunspot cluster - Arc of dissent - A huge lopping prominence on the Sun - The Sun blasts out a flare and a huge filament - SDO lunar transit: now with video!
