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NASA Lets Us Watch the Sun Spin For 3 Years In 4 Minute Video

Posted by Soulskill on from the great-balls-of-fire dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Back in February 2010 NASA launched the Solar Dynamics Observatory–a 3-axis stabilized satellite and fully redundant spacecraft. The aim of the SDO is to monitor solar activity and see how that impacts space weather. As part of its observations, the SDO captures an image of the Sun every 12 seconds using the onboard Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, but varies those shots across 10 different wavelengths. NASA has now collected three years worth of image data from the SDO and has put together a video letting us see the Sun spin in all its glory." If you watch closely, you can see individual frames containing the Moon and Venus.

34 comments

  1. Skip to the last few seconds... by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 1

    It turns into a giant Wonder Woman!

    --
    I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
    1. Re:Skip to the last few seconds... by Zaatxe · · Score: 1

      Yo mama?

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      So say we all
  2. So... by ackthpt · · Score: 1

    NASA is into reruns, too.

    Better stick to books this summer.

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    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  3. Do they know why? by gr8_phk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Do they know why all the activity seems to be concentrated in 2 bands? One in the northern and one in the southern hemisphere. I would presume there is some sort of convection going on like on earth where there are westerly winds at some latitudes and easterly winds at others. But then why would that activity be on a 11 year cycle? I found this puzzling and am wondering if anyone knows the answers.

    1. Re:Do they know why? by Dunbal · · Score: 3, Funny

      The answers to those questions come at the price of having to give up ever having sex with another human being again.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    2. Re:Do they know why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      due to the sun's rotation, material at the equator weighs less than material at the poles. this drives a macro-level dual toroidal current from the poles to the equator internally, and from the equator to the poles externally. Just like on Earth, the flow of these currents are subject to Coriolis forces, resulting in lots of activity. As for the 11-year cycle, someone else will have to answer that.

    3. Re:Do they know why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That would suggest there actually is a chance of having sex with another human being for me in the future.

    4. Re:Do they know why? by Xoltri · · Score: 1

      I read somewhere that the cycle is due to the fact that because the sun is made of gas, different latitudes rotate at different rates and depending on how they match up determines the cycle. It's also an average of 11 years, not exactly 11 years.

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      -Xoltri
    5. Re:Do they know why? by Jason+Levine · · Score: 2

      Haven't you listened to the They Might Be Giants album, Here Comes Science? The sun isn't a mass of incandescent gas. It's a miasma of incandescent plasma!

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLkGSV9WDMA

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    6. Re:Do they know why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If there is, it'll require a makeover, step one of which is giving up Slashdot.

    7. Re:Do they know why? by geekoid · · Score: 2

      Haha yes scientists don't get sex haha. yeah, that's new.

      Yawn. Got anything YOU might have thought up?

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    8. Re:Do they know why? by iggymanz · · Score: 3, Informative

      The cause of the solar cycles is still under debate. One theory is tidal forces from Jupiter and to a lesser extent Saturn causes it, another is solar jet stream oscillations (which I think other replier below read about), another is the "solar inertial motion" of the Sun about the center of mass of the solar system.

    9. Re:Do they know why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The answers to those questions come at the price of having to give up ever having sex with another human being again.

      And I will gladly pay that price if it means having a better understanding of the universe and being one step closer to answering the question: what the hell am I doing in this forsaken rock?

    10. Re:Do they know why? by Dunbal · · Score: 2

      I do actually. It's published.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    11. Re:Do they know why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IANA astrophysicist, but here's my two cents:

      What you've noticed is in fact a well-observed phenomenon, but AFAIK we don't yet understand the exact mechanism. It probably arises from some long-period dynamic instability that involves magnetic fields (which are closely associated with sunspots) and the rotation ("spin") of the sun. I'm reminded of the Coriolis effect, particularly of the pattern of apparent motion shown in the last graphic in that article, near the bottom of the page.

    12. Re: Do they know why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's far from the truth. However, the only way I can get some good research done is by telling my wife I'll be sending the evening with my lover, and by telling my lover I'll be spending the evening with my wife.

    13. Re:Do they know why? by Jmc23 · · Score: 1

      It's a big brain using plasma instead of electric current. 11 years is the cycle that governs brain/thinking in biorhythms.

      --
      Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.
    14. Re: Do they know why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I heard this joke more than 30 years ago during a lecture.

    15. Re:Do they know why? by Raenex · · Score: 1

      what the hell am I doing in this forsaken rock?

      Science has provided the answer: No particular reason. You are an accident of evolution. Feel better?

    16. Re:Do they know why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So let's see it.

  4. it gave me a sun burn by BenSchuarmer · · Score: 2

    curse my pale skinned ancestors

  5. FOSS Onboard SDO by joelsherrill · · Score: 5, Informative

    The RTEMS Project (http://www.rtems.org) is very proud to be part of this successful mission. For details see http://rtemsramblings.blogspot.com/2010/02/nasa-solar-dynamic-observatory-launched.html

  6. Re: Don't give a shit about space... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    because they don't use "libre" software? get your head out of your stuck-up, open source hipster ass.

  7. Pretty cool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Er.. Make that pretty hot.

  8. Re:Don't give a shit about space... by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    Goddamn hippies.

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    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  9. A pattern here? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Interesting how devoid of activity the poles and equator are. The action appears to be concentrated just above and below the equatorial plane. Tell me, is the earth generally aligned with that equator (I hope)?

  10. Re: Don't give a shit about space... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why don't you go suck Ballmer's dick some more, freedom-hating asshole.

  11. Re:Don't give a shit about space... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Troll troll is troll.

  12. Motion interpolation by XNormal · · Score: 1

    It would be nice if someone could smooth the motion in this video with a plugin like Twixtor.

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    Stop worrying about the risks of nuclear power and start worrying about the risks of not using nuclear power.
  13. Nothing to see here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The sun has been spinning for billions of years. Nothing to see here.

  14. Stunning imagery! by LloydDavidLieberman · · Score: 1

    This is one heluva project !

  15. can we do Jupiter next?? by xandroid · · Score: 1

    I've want to see something like this of Jupiter for ages!

    --
    $ echo "ceci n'est pas une pipe" | sed -Ee 's/(eci n|pas )//g'