Missions

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Humans have been observing the Sun basically since the beginning but it was not until the early 1960s that spacecraft were used to observe the Sun. There have been many missions since that time that have furthered our understanding of the Sun as well as providing many new questions to answer.

February 8, 2021

Happy 1st Anniversary Solar Orbiter – The Science is Just Beginning

February 9, 2021 marks the one year anniversary of the launch of the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter Mission. It was launched from Kennedy Space Center at 11:03 pm ET on February 9, 2020. This mission is a single spacecraft designed with […]
August 1, 2018

Parker Solar Probe: Humanity’s First Visit to a Star

Parker Solar Probe is a historic mission, flying into the Sun’s atmosphere (or corona) for the first time! It will have 24 orbits around the sun, traveling at a top speed of 430,000 mph—the fastest man-made object ever! It can also withstand temperatures outside the spacecraft that reach nearly 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,377 degrees Celsius)!
August 22, 2017

SDO’s View of the August 21 Solar Eclipse

A movie of the Aug 21, 2017 lunar transit as viewed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO.)  Credit: NASA/SDO The Sun appears in visible light, and 171 ångstrom extreme ultraviolet light. The movie shows the Sun moving a bit because […]
April 21, 2017

Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) – Year 7

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has now captured nearly seven years worth of ultra-high resolution solar footage. This time-lapse shows that full run from two of SDO’s instruments. CREDIT: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO, Music: “Web of Intrigue” from Killer Tracks. The […]
April 21, 2014

Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) – Year 4

Massive solar flares, graceful eruptions of solar material, and an enormous sunspot make up some of the imagery captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory during its fourth year in orbit. CREDIT: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO, Music: Stella Maris courtesy of Moby […]
May 10, 2013

Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) – Year 3

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center heliophysicist C. Alex Young highlights many interesting aspects of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) images and points out several of the single-frame events that appear in it. This video shows those three years of the sun at a pace of two images per day.
February 28, 2013

Van Allen Probes Discover a 3rd Radiation Belt around Earth

Learn about this new result in a video by NASA Goddard Heliophysics Division. NASA presented these results at a press conference today. Tomorrow I will be on a Google Hangout with several of my colleagues at NASA Goddard. http://bit.ly/YzL5Mz Ask […]
April 21, 2012

Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) – Year 2

April 21, 2012 marks the two-year anniversary of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) First Light press conference, where NASA revealed the first images taken by the spacecraft. This video highlights just some of the amazing events witnessed in SDO’s second […]