The SDO Begins Phase E

An SDO image of a region on the Sun (described below). Click for larger. Image and movie: SDO (NASA) and the AIA, EVE, and/or AIA consortium.

We have above as described by NASA, an AIA image in 193 Å after a solar eruption and a flare. The dark regions show the site of evacuated material from the eruption, and the large magnetic loops were formed during the flare.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory entered “Phase E” just a few days ago. “Phase E” is the science part of the mission.  As part of the mission the spacecraft is sending 1.5 Terabytes of data daily to Earth (yes  bytes). Good thing they can cherry pick the data they want to see because that data rate is expected to continue until at least 2015.

The caption says this is an AIA image.  AIA stands for Atmospheric Imaging Assembly and it is designed to provide a look at the solar corona.  To understand the image a little more, click here to see a Quicktime movie of the area.

You can read more about the AIA here.

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