New Solar Observatory to Unlock Sun's Mysteries (SDO - Solar Dynamics Observatory)

Space.com ^ | 2/9/10 | Jeremy Hsu

[NormsRevenge]

A powerful new solar observatory will spend the next five years recording images of the sun with 10 times better resolution than HD television, peering deep within the sun's layers to reveal just how solar storms erupt. The observations could help scientists build the first effective models for space weather forecasting.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is slated for launch on Feb. 10 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. It carries three instruments that will pierce the mysteries enshrouding the sun's magnetic fields and ultraviolet radiation, which together help shape the Earth's atmosphere every day.

"The unique characteristic of SDO is that it is designed to see everything all the time," said Madhulika Guhathakurta, SDO Project Scientist NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

SDO's all-seeing eyes will stream the data equivalent of half-a-million songs per day down to a ground station, as the observatory maintains a geosynchronous orbit above the same point on the Earth's surface. That comes to 150 million bits of data per second, 24 hours a day and seven days a week , almost 50 times more science data than any other mission in NASA's history.

Storm alerts

Science won't prove the only beneficiary here. Better knowledge of the sun's behavior would go a long way toward alerting Earth of possibly catastrophic solar storms that could cripple power grids and communication systems across the globe.

"It will be like the early days of weather forecasting," said Dean Pesnell, SDO Project Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

...

.. scientists can get a much better idea of what affects solar flares and coronal eruptions, as well as how the sun's magnetic field changes during all the events.

[NormsRevenge]

An artist's illustration of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory,
set to launch Feb. 9 to observe the sun. Credit: NASA/Goddard

[NormsRevenge]

SDO
http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Nasa mission page
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/main/index.html

[NormsRevenge]

SDO Launch
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/launch/index.html
Spacecraft: Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Atlas V-401
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station - Launch Complex 41
Launch Date: Feb. 10, 2010
Launch Window: 10:26 a.m. - 11:26 a.m. EST

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

Maybe they will finally realize that the sun is responsible for essentially all the heat input to the Earth’s surface and that the main reason for temperature rise and fall is the variation in the Sun’s output.

[cripplecreek]

I’m a little surprise the luddites haven’t arrived to screech about this yet.

Personally I would like to get good imaging of other similar stars to compare with our own.

[b4its2late]

So, will they finally figure out that the sun is the main cause of global warming and cooling?

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks NormsRevenge.

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