Wondrous images, from a million miles out in space, from NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) of the shadow of the moon crossing over North America on Aug. 21, 2017. EPIC is aboard NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), photographing the full sunlit side of Earth every day. [Image credit: NASA EPIC Team. Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Katy Mersmann] Pete Baker
It seems like only yesterday that I was noting First Light on Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory [SDO], and the early hours of this morning for ‘three years in three minutes‘ and ‘SDO Year 4‘. In fact the SDO was launched on 11 Feb 2010, with First Light in April of that year. [Seven long years… – Ed] Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Centre have produced a short [3 min 22 sec] video marking the solar sunspot cycle during that time. [Credit: NASA’s …
If you missed yesterday’s rare Mercury transit across the Sun – the last was in 2006, the next in 2019 – then where were you! [Busy… – Ed] But even if you were paying attention you’re unlikely to have had as wondrous a view as that of Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. They’ve helpfully released a stunning time-lapse video compressing the entire 7 hour spectacle into a digestible couple of minutes. I recommend switching to full screen mode and cranking up the volume. Enjoy! [Video …
Or, like me, cloud cover obscured the solar eclipse of 20 March 2015. Here’s probably the best view of this morning’s event, from ESA’s Sun-watching Proba-2 mini-satellite. [Image credit: ESA/ROB] And via ESA on YouTube. As Europe enjoyed a partial solar eclipse on the morning of Friday 20 March 2015, ESA’s Sun-watching Proba-2 minisatellite had a ringside seat from space. Orbiting Earth once approximately every 100 minutes, Proba-2 caught two eclipses over the course of the morning. Proba-2 used its SWAP imager …
The BBC’s Stargazing Live returns tonight, 8pm BBC 2, with three consecutive nights of live programmes to coincide with the total solar eclipse on Friday 20 March 2015. [It is an annual series! – Ed]. Stargazing Live is, yes. Not necessarily total solar eclipses, though. And this solar eclipse is the only one, total or otherwise, to be visible from Europe for the next few years. ESA’s mini-satellites will have a better view. But not as good a view as this… The BBC …
Four years after its work began, and following last year’s three years in three minutes, Nasa have released another wondrous short video of a year of selected solar activity as viewed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Video via Nasa Goddard. Full-screen viewing recommended. Stunning. [Credit: NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory. Music: Stella Maris courtesy of Moby Gratis] The sun is always changing and NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory is always watching. Launched on Feb. 11, 2010, SDO keeps a 24-hour eye on the entire disk …
If you enjoyed the recent video from Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) – “Three years in three minutes” – but would have liked more of an explanation of what was going on with our own local star… here it is again! This time, though, extended, and narrated by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center heliophysicist Alex Young. [Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center] Pete Baker
What it says on the tin. Three years after First Light, Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has released three stunning minutes of images compiled during its virtually unbroken coverage of the sun’s rise toward solar maximum. Enjoy! [Video from NasaExplorer on YouTube. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO] As they note in the associated text During the course of the video, the sun subtly increases and decreases in apparent size. This is because the distance between the SDO spacecraft and the …
Were your skies not favourable for viewing? Did you miss the live online coverage of the last transit of Venus until 2117? Well, there’s a Flickr group. Or you could take in the stunning views from Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. Video from NasaExplorer. [Credit: Data courtesy of NASA/SDO, HMI, and AIA science teams]. Enjoy! On June 5 2012, SDO collected images of the rarest predictable solar event–the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in …
As I mentioned back in March, tonight one of the rarest predictable astronomical events will occur – a transit of Venus. [I’m washing my hair! – Ed] What hair? ANYhoo… Since the invention of the greatest human innovation, the telescope, at the beginning of the 17th century, not by Galileo, there have been only 7 such transits. The next time it will happen will be on 11 December 2117. Nasa’s Sun-Earth Day website will be providing a live web cast during the more than …
Here’s a short video compilation of some stunning views of the Sun in 2012 – as seen by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). And Science at Nasa has a, erm, cheerful message as we approach solar maximum – “Enjoy the show!” [Once more, with feeling… – Ed] Indeed. Pete Baker
Here’s a date to mark in your diary [really? – Ed]. On the 5/6 June this year one of the rarest predictable astronomical events will occur – a transit of Venus. [Can’t wait… – Ed] Since the invention of the greatest human innovation, the telescope, at the beginning of the 17th century, not by Galileo, there have been only 7 such transits. And, although the last one was in 2004, the next will not happen until 11 December 2117. [I’ll catch it then! …
In this short video ScienceAtNasa takes an informative look at the surprisingly robust sun-grazing Comet Lovejoy. And here’s the stunning video from the crew of the International Space Station again. [Video courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center] Pete Baker
Rumours of the demise of Kreutz sungrazing Comet Lovejoy may have been greatly exaggarated. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory caught Comet Lovejoy emerging from its scorching close encounter with the sun. [Video Credit: NASA SDO] As the Science at Nasa press release notes Comet Lovejoy was discovered on Dec. 2, 2011, by amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy of Australia. Researchers quickly realized that the new find was a member of the Kreutz family of sungrazing comets. Named after the German astronomer Heinrich Kreutz, …
As noted by the BBC, Nasa have released a short video of the Aurora Australis “created from a sequence of still shots taken by astronauts on board the International Space Station. The images were acquired on September 11, 2011 as the ISS orbit pass descended over eastern Australia.” Wondrous. Pete Baker
Science at Nasa explains in this short video. Pete Baker
Nasa have released more stunning footage from the Solar Dynamics Observatory of the spectacular solar eruption on June 7. As LittleSDOHMI notes – “This video uses the full-resolution 4096 x 4096 pixel images at a one minute time cadence to provide the highest quality, finest detail version possible.” With music! Pete Baker
…at 8.22pm [BST]. That’s tonight’s lunar eclipse and totality will last for 100 minutes – until 10.02pm [BST]. But it’s not, as the Irish Times claims Ireland’s “first lunar eclipse for five years.” It is special however. It’s a central total lunar eclipse – the center point of Earth’s shadow will fall on the moon – which explains the unusually long duration. It could be as spectacular as the 2007 total lunar eclipse, which Sammy Morse captured in the featured image above. Or it …
Wondrous images from Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory of the spectacular eruption that accompanied an M-2 (medium-sized) solar flare on June 7. [Image/video credit: NASA SDO] And, via the Professor, Geeked on Goddard provides further video courtesy Helioviewer.org and a narration by The Sun Today. As LittleSDOHMI notes This Earth-directed CME [Coronal Mass Ejection] is moving at 1400 km/s according to NASA models. Due to its angle, however, effects on Earth should be fairly small. Nevertheless, it may generate space weather effects …
One year on from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) First Light and Nasa have released a compilation of wondrous clips of its observations of our local star. [Video credit: Nasa SDO] They have selected 12 of the most beautiful, interesting, and mesmerizing events seen by SDO during its first year. In the order they appear in the video the events are: 1. Prominence Eruption from AIA in 304 Angstroms on March 30, 2010 2. Cusp Flow from AIA in 171 Angstroms on …
