NASA SDO: Sounding rocket has 6 mins to study Solar Heating

A view of the sun from Sept. 24, 2014 from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows bright spots representing magnetically active regions in the lower right quadrant of the sun. 

The VAULT2.0 mission will focus on this area to better understand what heats the solar atmosphere. 

Credit: NASA/SDO

On Sept. 30, 2014, a sounding rocket will fly up into the sky,  past Earth's atmosphere that obscures certain wavelengths of light from the sun, for a 15-minute journey to study what heats up the sun's atmosphere.

This is the fourth flight for the Very high Angular Resolution Ultraviolet Telescope (VAULT), will launch from the White Sands Missile Range near Las Cruces, New Mexico.

The instrument, now called VAULT 2.0, has been refurbished with new electronics and an imaging detector to capture images more frequently than before.

While in space, VAULT 2.0 will observe light emitted from hydrogen atoms at temperatures of 18,000 to 180,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

"That's the temperature range where the action is," said Angelos Vourlidas, the principal investigator for VAULT 2.0 at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.

"These are the temperatures where the heating of the sun's atmosphere, the corona, really takes place."

Understanding how the corona heats remains one of the great, unanswered questions on the sun.

The solar surface itself is only about 10,500 F, but further up in the atmosphere, the temperatures rise to million of degrees Fahrenheit, the opposite of what one typically expects when moving away from a heat source.

Something heats up that corona, and VAULT 2.0 will be watching.

The sounding rocket will fly up to about 180 miles in the air, just below the height where the International Space Station travels. It will fly in an arc, taking 15 minutes from launch to landing back on the ground.

This allows for just six minutes of actual observations while it is above the atmosphere, during which VAULT 2.0 will capture an image every six to eight seconds.

Vourlidas plans to focus the telescope on active regions at the center of the sun, areas of intense and complex magnetic activity, to understand the heating process there.

NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS)

During the VAULT 2.0 launch, three other observatories will watch the same area: NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), the joint Japanese Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA's Hinode, and NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).

IRIS focuses on solar material slightly hotter than does VAULT 2.0, while Hinode can see solar material both cooler and much hotter.

The temperatures also loosely correlate to heights in the atmosphere with the cooler temperatures at the bottom, and the hotter temperatures higher up.

SDO will observe the larger scale structure of the solar atmosphere as well as the underlying magnetic field.

"Together the three telescopes will be looking at a sandwich of solar material," said Vourlidas.

"We'll be looking at the layers from near the surface all the way up into the corona, the layers where the bulk of coronal heating is believed to happen."

VAULT's launch time is planned for 1:47 p.m. EDT on Sept. 30. Launch timing will depend on good weather conditions as well as optimum times for coordinating with Hinode satellite and IRIS spacecraft.

NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captures partial Lunar Transit

Image Credit: NASA/SDO

On July 26, 2014, from 10:57 a.m. to 11:42 a.m. EDT, the moon crossed between NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the sun, a phenomenon called a lunar transit.

A lunar transit happens approximately twice a year, causing a partial solar eclipse that can only be seen from SDO's point of view.

Images of the eclipse show a crisp lunar horizon, because the moon has no atmosphere that would distort light.

This image shows the blended result of two SDO wavelengths, one in 304 wavelength and another in 171 wavelength.

NASA SDO: Plasma Outburst - video

A stream of plasma burst out from the sun, but since it lacked enough force to break away, most of it fell back into the sun (May 27, 2014).

The video, seen in a combination of two wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light, covers a little over two hours.

This eruption was minor and such events occur almost every day on the sun and suggest the kind of dynamic activity being driven by powerful magnetic forces near the sun's surface.

Image credit: NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory

Solar Observatories Discovering a hidden source of solar surges

High-definition images of the Sun´s surface (left) and lower chromosphere (right) observed with the New Solar Telescope. 

This region of the Sun displays a some dark structures (solar pores) and the convective pattern (granulation) in which they are immersed. 

The region in the white circle is zoomed-out to show the action of the magnetic flux rope that interacts with the plasma and deforms the shape of the granules. 

At the lower part in the right image the scientists detected the ejection of a plasma surge extending thousands of miles.

Cutting-edge observations with the 1.6-meter telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) in California have taken research into the structure and activity of the Sun to new levels of understanding.

Operated by New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), the telescope at Big Bear is the most powerful ground-based instrument dedicated to studying the Sun.

A group of astronomers led by Dr. Santiago Vargas Dominguez has analyzed the highest- resolution solar observations ever made.

A summary of their work at BBSO was presented on June 2 at the 224th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, held in Boston, Massachusetts.

The NJIT researchers reported on the emergence of buoyant "small-scale" magnetic-flux ropes on the solar surface and the initiation of powerful plasma eruptions in the solar atmosphere.

The observations were performed as part of a program conducted jointly with NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission, Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and Hinode satellite.

These observations provided a unique view of a magnetic-flux rope in the Sun's surface-granulation pattern that was 6,000 miles long, and the interaction between newly emergent and overlying ambient magnetic fields.

Solar activity entails numerous processes occurring in the star nearest to Earth. These processes have far-reaching effects, generating "space weather" that brings bursts of charged particles and high-energy radiation in the direction of Earth at nearly the speed of light.

Cartoon illustrating the action of a six-thousand miles long magnetic flux rope rising up from the solar interior and stretching the granules.  
The interaction between the emerged and the ambient magnetic fields produces impulsive heating and an ejection of a plasma surge.

The magnetic field generated in the solar interior and brought to the surface creates a wide variety of structures, with sunspots being the most well-known.

Sunspots can cover large areas of the surface of the Sun, up to several times the size of Earth. They can persist for weeks or even months before vanishing.

Associated with the evolution of sunspots, solar flares and coronal mass ejections are especially intense during the solar maximum, the period of greatest activity in the 11-year solar cycle.

Multiple phenomena can also occur on "smaller" spatial scales of several thousand miles, and in a matter of minutes.

Believed to be driven by the interaction of magnetic fields, these events occur with greater frequency and appear to be directly responsible for continuous heating of the solar atmosphere.

More information: "Multi-wavelength high-resolution observations of a small-scale emerging magnetic flux event and the chromospheric and coronal response." Santiago Vargas Dominguez, Alexander Kosovichev, Vasyl Yurchyshyn. arXiv:1405.3550 [astro-ph.SR]. arxiv.org/abs/1405.3550

NASA SDO images: Significant solar flare - X-class

An X-class solar flare erupted on the left side of the sun on the evening of Feb. 24, 2014. 

This composite image, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite at 7:59 p.m. EST, shows the sun in X-ray light with wavelengths of both 131 and 171 angstroms. 

Credit: NASA /Solar Dynamics Observatory

The sun emitted a significant solar flare, peaking at 7:49 p.m. EST on Feb. 24, 2014.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which keeps a constant watch on the sun, captured images of the event.

Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation, appearing as giant flashes of light in the SDO images.

Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however, when intense enough, they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.

To see how this event may impact Earth, please visit NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, the U.S. government's official source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings.

These SDO images from 7:25 p.m. EST on Feb. 24, 2014, show the first moments of an X-class flare in different wavelengths of light -- seen as the bright spot that appears on the left limb of the sun. 

Hot solar material can be seen hovering above the active region in the sun's atmosphere, the corona. Image 

Credit: NASA/SDO

This flare is classified as an X4.9-class flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense, etc.

Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Image: Lunar Transit

On Jan. 30, 2014, beginning at 8:31 a.m EST, the moon moved between NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), and the sun, giving the observatory a view of a partial solar eclipse from space. 

Such a lunar transit happens two to three times each year. 

This one lasted two and one half hours, which is the longest ever recorded. 

When the next one will occur is as of yet unknown, due to planned adjustments in SDO's orbit.

Image Credit: NASA/SDO

A rainbow of lunar transits as seen by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). 

The observatory watches the sun in many different wavelengths of light, shown here as different colour.

Image Credit: NASA/SDO

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO): Massive Sunspot AR1944

One of the largest sunspots in the last nine years, labeled AR1944, was seen in early January 2014, as captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). 

An image of Earth has been added for scale. 

Credit: NASA/SDO

An enormous sunspot, labeled AR1944, slipped into view over the sun's left horizon late on Jan. 1, 2014.

The sunspot steadily moved toward the right, along with the rotation of the sun, and now sits almost dead center, as seen in the image above from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).

Sunspots are dark areas on the sun's surface that contain complex arrangements of strong magnetic fields that are constantly shifting.

The largest dark spot in this configuration is approximately two Earths wide, and the entire sunspot group is some seven Earths across.

For comparison, another giant sunspot, five to six Earths across, is shown below from 2005. The image was captured by the European Space Agency and NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).

Sunspots are part of what's known as active regions, which also include regions of the sun's atmosphere, the corona, hovering above the sunspots.

Active regions can be the source of some of the sun's great explosions: solar flares that send out giant bursts of light and radiation due to the release of magnetic energy, or coronal mass ejections that send huge clouds of solar material out into space.

As the sunspot group continues its journey across the face of the sun, scientists will watch how it changes and evolves to learn more about how these convoluted magnetic fields can cause space weather events that can affect space-borne systems and technological infrastructure on Earth.

Two of the largest sunspots in the last nine years: the one on the left is from Jan. 17, 2005, captured by ESA/NASA's Solar Heliospheric Observatory; the one on the right is from Jan. 7, 2014, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. 

Credit: ESA/NASA SOHO and NASA SDO

Solar Dynamics Observatory Shows Sun's Rainbow of Wavelengths

This still image was taken from a new NASA movie of the sun based on data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), showing the wide range of wavelengths – invisible to the naked eye – that the telescope can view. 

SDO converts the wavelengths into an image humans can see, and the light is coloured into a rainbow of colours.

Yellow light of 5800 Angstroms, for example, generally emanates from material of about 10,000 degrees F (5700 degrees C), which represents the surface of the sun.


Extreme ultraviolet light of 94 Angstroms, which is typically coloured in green in SDO images, comes from atoms that are about 11 million degrees F (6,300,000 degrees C) and is a good wavelength for looking at solar flares, which can reach such high temperatures.

By examining pictures of the sun in a variety of wavelengths – as is done not only by SDO, but also by NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) and the European Space Agency /NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory - scientists can track how particles and heat move through the sun's atmosphere.

Image Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO): Untangling motion inside the Sun

Observations by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory show a two-level system of circulation inside the sun. 

Such circulation is connected to the flip of the sun's north and south magnetic poles that occurs approximately every 11 years. 

Credit: Stanford University

Using an instrument on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, called the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI), scientists have overturned previous notions of how the sun's writhing insides move from equator to pole and back again, a key part of understanding how the dynamo works.

Modeling this system also lies at the heart of improving predictions of the intensity of the next solar cycle.

Using SDO, scientists see a performance of explosions and fountains on the solar surface. Shots of solar material leap into the air.

Dark blemishes called sunspots grow, combine and disappear as they travel across the sun's face. Bright loops of charged particles – captured by magnetic fields dancing around the sun – hover in the atmosphere.

This dynamic display is all powered by a complex, ever-changing magnetic current inside the sun known as the dynamo.

This magnetic system flips approximately every 11 years, with magnetic north and magnetic south switching poles.

This process is an integral part of the sun's progression toward a pinnacle of solar activity, known as solar maximum.

The team's recent results show that, instead of a simple cycle of flow moving toward the poles near the sun's surface and then back to the equator, the material inside the sun shows a double layer of circulation, with two such cycles on top of each other.

The results appear online in the Astrophysical Journal Letters on Aug. 27, 2013.

"For decades people have known that the solar cycle depends on the poleward flow or material, changing the magnetic fields from one cycle to the next," said Philip Scherrer, principal investigator for HMI at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif.

"We mapped out what we believed to be the flow pattern in the 1990s, but the results didn't quite make sense."

Since the mid-1990s researchers have been observing movement inside the sun using a technique called helioseismology.

The technique makes use of the fact that waves course across the sun, back and forth, oscillating with an approximately five minute period.

Such waves are similar to the seismic waves that spread out under the ground during an earthquake. By monitoring the oscillations seen at the surface of the sun, scientists can gather information about the material through which the waves traveled, including what the material is made of and how fast and in what direction it is moving.

More information: iopscience.iop.org/2041-8205/774/2/L29/pdf/2041-8205_774_2_L29.pdf

NASA SDO Image: Solar Magnetic Filament

A magnetic filament snaking around the sun's SE limb just keeps getting longer.

The portion visible today stretches more than 700,000 km--a full solar radius. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory took this picture during the early hours of Dec. 6th:

NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft, stationed over the sun's eastern horizon, saw this filament coming last week. 

So far the massive structure has hovered quietly above the stellar surface, but now it is showing signs of instability. 

Long filaments like this one have been known to collapse with explosive results when they hit the stellar surface below. Stay tuned for action.

More images: from Robert Arnold of Isle of Skye, Scotland; from Cai-Uso Wohler of Bispingen, Germany; from Gianfranco Meregalli of Milano, Italy; from Francisco A. Rodriguez of Cabreja Mountain Observatory, Canary Islands; from Larry Alvarez of Flower Mound, Texas;

NASA's new Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)

This still from an April 12-13 video recorded by NASA's new Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows an eruptive prominence blasting away from the sun. The prominence appears to stretch almost halfway across the sun, about 500,000 miles




Picture: AP / NASA