Our sun is an incredibly violent thing, smashing atoms together at an incredible rate that results in the outpouring of vast torrents of energy into our solar system. Yet from certain perspectives it takes on a serene appearance, its surface ebbing and flowing as particles trace out some of its vast magnetic field. Indeed that’s exactly what the following video shows: a gorgeous composition of imagery taken from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. Whilst not all of us have the luxury of a 4K screen it’s still quite breathtaking to behold and definitely worth at least a few minutes of your time.
SDO has been in orbit for 5 years now keeping an almost unbroken eye on our parent star. Its primary mission is to better understand the relationship that our earth and the sun have, especially those which have a direct impact on daily life. To achieve this SDO is observing the sun in multiple wavelengths all at once (shown as different colours in this video) and on a much smaller timescale than previous craft have attempted. This has led to insights into how the sun generates its magnetic field, what it looks like and how the complex fusion processes influence the sun’s varying outputs like solar wind, energetic particles and variations in its solar output. Those images aren’t just rich with scientific data however as they showcase the sun’s incredible beauty.
So, how’s the serenity? 😉
