On February 11, 2010, NASA launched a spacecraft to study the inner workings of the sun.
The new Solar Dynamics Observatory was made to take the most detailed and comprehensive measurements of the sun ever. The satellite orbits Earth, but its orbit allows it to look at the sun continuously. It looks for activity like sunspots and solar flares, but it also studies the sun's magnetic field. By better understanding the sun's crazy and warped magnetic fields, scientists hope to better predict space weather events that spew harmful radiation toward Earth. The Solar Dynamics Observatory launched just in time to see the sun during the peak of its 11-year solar cycle.
The new Solar Dynamics Observatory was made to take the most detailed and comprehensive measurements of the sun ever. The satellite orbits Earth, but its orbit allows it to look at the sun continuously. It looks for activity like sunspots and solar flares, but it also studies the sun's magnetic field. By better understanding the sun's crazy and warped magnetic fields, scientists hope to better predict space weather events that spew harmful radiation toward Earth. The Solar Dynamics Observatory launched just in time to see the sun during the peak of its 11-year solar cycle.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space.
00:04On February 11, 2010, NASA launched a spacecraft to study the inner workings of the sun.
00:10The new Solar Dynamics Observatory was made to take the most detailed and comprehensive measurements of the sun ever.
00:16The satellite orbits Earth, but its orbit allows it to look at the sun continuously.
00:21It looks for activity like sunspots and solar flares, but it also studies the sun's magnetic field.
00:26By better understanding the sun's crazy and warped magnetic fields,
00:30scientists hope to better predict space weather events that spew harmful radiation towards Earth.
00:34The Solar Dynamics Observatory launched just in time to see the sun during the peak of its 11-year solar cycle.
00:40And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:43NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology