SDO captures images of the sun in 10 different wavelengths, each of which helps highlight a different temperature of solar material.
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The video shows an active region of the sun which erupted in what the space agency describes as a “solar outburst”, with at least a dozen minor events over a 30-hour period from November 3-5. Basically, what the SDO is doing is making invisible ultraviolet light visible to our eyes. Solar activity can affect the weather and satellites orbiting the earth and causes the phenomenon known as auroras, the colorful streams of light seen in the skies around the North and South poles. The Sun – our star – is continuously radiating energy and solar wind. It took about 300 hours for the video to be created, with media specialists spending ten hours to create just one minute of footage.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory.
The SDO’s 4k video technology assigned each wavelength with its own unique color, which gives the film four times better resolution compared to standard HD (high-definition video).
It’s a pretty chill visual experience on the whole, taking on a bit of an edge when you realize the slow, grand eruptions from the surface of the Sun could span the width of several Earths.
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Billed as offering an unprecedented view of the sun, the video was compiled from images taken every 12 seconds by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
