SDO Stories
How NASA Tracked the Most Intense Solar Storm in Decades
May 2024 has already proven to be a particularly stormy month for our Sun. During the first full week of May, a barrage of large solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) launched clouds of charged particles and magnetic fields…
The April 8 Total Solar Eclipse: Through the Eyes of NASA
On April 8, 2024, the Moon’s shadow swept across North America, treating millions to a breathtaking view of a total solar eclipse. As the Moon passed in front of the Sun, it revealed the Sun’s wispy white outer atmosphere —…
How NASA’s Roman Telescope Will Measure Ages of Stars
Guessing your age might be a popular carnival game, but for astronomers it’s a real challenge to determine the ages of stars. Once a star like our Sun has settled into steady nuclear fusion, or the mature phase of its…
Scientists Use NASA Data to Predict Solar Corona Before Eclipse
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to correctly reference which NASA supercomputer was used. Our Sun, like many stars, is adorned with a crown. It’s called a corona (Latin for “crown” or “wreath”) and consists of long, thread-like strands of…
Flashes on the Sun Could Help Scientists Predict Solar Flares
In the blazing upper atmosphere of the Sun, a team of scientists have found new clues that could help predict when and where the Sun’s next flare might explode. Using data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, researchers from…
NASA Missions Find ‘Jetlets’ Could Power the Solar Wind
Scientists with NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission have uncovered significant new clues about the origins of the solar wind – a continual stream of charged particles released from the Sun that fills the solar system. Observations from multiple space and…
The Coronal Veil: Are the Sun’s Magnetic Arches an Optical Illusion?
In visible light, the Sun appears blank and featureless. But through a solar telescope in a different wavelength, it is revealed to be much, much more. In extreme ultraviolet light, the Sun resembles a rumpled ball of yarn. It teems…
Scientists Use NASA Data to Predict Corona of Dec. 4 Antarctic Eclipse
Few were in the path of the world’s latest total solar eclipse, which swept across Antarctica in the early morning hours of Dec. 4. With or without a crowd, the eclipse took place according to a tale as old as…
For Solar Scientist Ruizhu Chen, the Sun Is the Ultimate Puzzle
How do we study the structure of something we can’t observe directly? One way is by analyzing how waves travel through it. That’s how we probed the interior of Earth. We learned about its density, temperature, and composition by studying…
Rocket Flight to Sharpen NASA’s Study of the Sun
UPDATE Sept. 9, 2021: The Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment was launched on a Black Brant IX sounding rocket at 11:25 a.m. MDT (1:25 p.m. EDT) Sept. 9 from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The payload flew to…