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SDO: The Extreme Ultraviolet Sun

Explanation: Don't panic, the Sun has not gone wild. But this wild-looking portrait of the nearest star to planet Earth was made on March 30th by the recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Shown in false-color, the composite view covers extreme ultraviolet wavelengths and traces hot plasma at temperatures approaching 1 million kelvins. At full resolution, SDO image data is intended to explore solar activity in unprecedented detail. In fact, SDO will send 1.5 terabytes of data back each day, equivalent to a daily download of about half a million MP3 songs. New SDO data releases include a high-resolution movie of the large, eruptive prominence seen along the solar limb at the upper left.

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If you zoom in on the flare at about 2 oclock, (the smaller one) theres a distortion that looks almost like a worm or snake. Is that just an image problem or could it be something else?

The color and texture is reminiscent of Starry Night. I guess van Gogh knew what he was doing.

SDO Delivers Stunning First Images
http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... 31&t=19156

grayson wrote:If you zoom in on the flare at about 2 oclock, (the smaller one) theres a distortion that looks almost like a worm or snake. Is that just an image problem or could it be something else?

Good catch, it looks like an image defect. I was amazed at how well defined the sun's surface is at that resolution.

Theres another anomaly at around 11 oclock, if it is a distortion, Its a straight line of plasma, or at least thats what it looks like. Any ideas?

Paul

Incredible. I'd subscribe to cable if they could start streaming this in real time - "Sun TV"

Doesn't this constitute an unprocessed image? The boys in quality control still have to sort through all the various filters and do some cleanup.

What a stunning photo. Gives a new dimension to the expression "one photo, one thousand words".

Looking at the photo, one has a sense of 3-D as well.

Anyway, a delicious result!

Anthony.

Amazing - takes my breath away by both the beauty of the picture and what the SDO just might tell us ....

It's quite a bit late, but I saw one of the more recent releases from SDO and the 'goober' we noticed at the 2 o'clock position is still there. Looks like it may be a permanent feature of that particular CCD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWrm-dADE8w

grayson wrote:If you zoom in on the flare at about 2 oclock, (the smaller one) theres a distortion that looks almost like a worm or snake. Is that just an image problem or could it be something else?

HellCat wrote:It's quite a bit late, but I saw one of the more recent releases from SDO and the 'goober' we noticed at the 2 o'clock position is still there. Looks like it may be a permanent feature of that particular CCD.

Dust on the CCD camera as explained in the article posted here.