SDO: Pick of the Week 2010

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SDO: Pick of the Week (2010 Nov 19)

Post by bystander » Mon Dec 06, 2010 5:46 pm

SDO: Pick of the Week (2010 Nov 19)
Snaking Filament

An elongated filament slithered, stretched and curled around the edge of the Sun as SDO watched in extreme ultraviolet light (Nov. 16-18, 2010). At one point it seems to break in two, but then it re-establishes its continuity. A second filament appears in the left part of the video clip and still too, though it is not as large or active. Filaments are relatively unstable clouds of cooler gases suspended above the Sun by magnetic forces. Sometimes they erupt and burst into space; other times they just fade away. Keep an eye on this one!

Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO
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SDO: Pick of the Week (2010 Dec 06)

Post by bystander » Mon Dec 06, 2010 5:50 pm

SDO: Pick of the Week (2010 Dec 06)
Arcing Loops

Arcing loops above an active region put on a slinky-like show for SDO, evidence of the dynamic, magnetic struggles taking place below (Nov. 28-30, 2010). Particles spiraling along magnetic field lines trace their paths as they gracefully shift and change. Magnetic forces in the active region are connecting, breaking apart, and reconnecting. Another active region that rotates into view about halfway through the video clip exhibits similar behavior. These frames were taken in extreme ultraviolet light. The smooth motion of the video is made possible by using an image every five minutes (which is just one out of every 60 images taken in five minutes by SDO in this wavelength).

Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

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SDO: Pick of the Week (2010 Dec 10)

Post by bystander » Wed Dec 15, 2010 7:24 pm

SDO Hotshot (2010 Dec 07)
SDO: Pick of the Week (2010 Dec 10)
Click to view full size image 1 or image 2
Filament Eruption

A very long solar filament that had been snaking around the Sun erupted today (Dec. 6, 2010) with a flourish. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) caught the action in dramatic detail in extreme ultraviolet light of Helium. It had been almost a million km long ((about half a solar radius) and a prominent feature on the Sun visible over two weeks ago before it rotated out of view. Filaments are elongated clouds of cooler gases suspended above the Sun by magnetic forces. They are rather unstable and often break away from the Sun. Note: the edge of the moon can be glimpsed at 0300 UT during a brief lunar transit.

Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO
http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... =9&t=22298
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

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SDO: Hotshot (2010 Dec 15)

Post by bystander » Wed Dec 15, 2010 7:31 pm

SDO: Hotshot (2010 Dec 15)
Global Eruption

On August 1, 2010 a whole connected series of events erupted across the Sun. Filaments of magnetism snapped and exploded, shock waves raced across much of the Sun's surface. In a new paper two scientists from Lockheed Martin's Solar and Astrophysics Lab in Palo Alto, CA, offered their findings at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco (Dec. 13, 2010). They studied the events in numerous wavelengths from SDO and views from STEREO mission that allowed them to view almost the entire Sun. The first movies and stills shown here provide an example of the events in just one wavelength. Another movie shows the events in a composite of three wavelengths.

Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO
Science@NASA: Global Eruption Rocks the Sun
http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... 31&t=22282
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

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