sdoisgo photos on Flickr

The Sun and the Earth - composition by Thomas Thomopoulos

2

This image shows an approximative comparison between the Earth and the Sun. The Sun is about 109 times the size of the Earth.

This rough comparison shows the size of an eruption on March 7, 2023.

The solar eruption took place in the northern hemisphere of the Sun at around 40 degrees.

In this image, the northern hemisphere is up and the southern hemisphere is down.

Image cropping - this image is in false colors. SDO give a red filter to AIA304 filter.

Observed by SDO on March 7, 2023 at a wavelength of 304 A.

The wavelength of the sun is ultraviolet, allowing us to observe helium losing two electrons.

The temperature oscillates between 40,000 and 60,000 degrees.

Sun credit : NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.

Sun is in UV

Earth credit : JAXA/ISAS/PSI/Thomas Thomopoulos

Earth is in visible light

Edition, cropping and composition with Earth : Thomas Thomopoulos

Visualisation of SDO image with Jhelioviewer

Phenomenon as a hot pixel on image : sdoisgo.blogspot.com/2011/04/proton-hits-and-hot-pixels.h...

Cool Toys pics of the day: #SDOisGO! Solar Dynamics Observatory Launch in SL by rosefirerising

SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory):

sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

I am from an era when the children eagerly gathered around the

television, with the adults lurking in the background trying to

pretend they weren't just as excited, every time NASA launched

ANYTHING. I remember we'd plan finger food dinners so we could be in

the living room and not miss anything, or beg to skip school. When

Jules Bergman started talking, I would shush any of the younger

siblings who were squirming or causing trouble in the background.

You knew that the world was watching. That everyone you knew was glued

to their televisions or their neighbor's television, just like we were

to ours. I come from a large family, and the house wasn't big enough,

so we would scatter pillows on the floor and crowd in around the TV. I

can't describe what it felt like. The closest thing I can think of now

is the Olympics, but watching NASA rockets take off was ... bigger. It

was universal, it felt as big as the whole sky, it felt as if we ALL

were out there with the astronauts, and at the same time as if they

lived a life so different from anything we could ever possibly

imagine.

For decades now I have missed that. Missed watching the launches on

TV, missed the communal sense that HERE, *this* was important, this

was changing the world, this would make a difference, this was opening

a door to something very real and unimaginable. Instead of "Here be

Dragons" it was "Here be Miracles," with the sense that all of us

watching somehow joined in the miracle, were touched by it.

Now, you can relive those days, those dreams, that sense of community

and the world watching together. NASA is doing so much with social

media, I can't begin to describe it all here. But for a start, a very

faint start, you can watch the launch of the new satellite for

observing our Sun in Second Life on Astronomy 2009 tomorrow morning,

if the launch isn't rescheduled again. The weather has been funky this

week, as I'm sure you've noticed. :) If you are not a Second Life

afficionado, you can join on the the Twitter discussions or host a

launch party. Or at the very least you can watch the conversation in

Twitter with tools like TwitterFall. At least, you can, if you aren't

in another meeting, like I am supposed to be.

Here is the SL announcement from tonight about tomorrow.

Schwag! by ThinkGeek

Photos from the 02/11/2010 launch (and some from 2/10 before the wind cooperated) of the Solar Dynamics Observatory. These pics were taken by #sdoisgo tweetup-ers: @Blueskeyes207 @NASAblueshift @cburytales @briandgregory @acworkma @CatherineQ @NoisyAstronomer @SpaceManAndy @astrogerly @SpacePlumr @privong @NASA_SDO_Edu