NASA
Houston We Have a Podcast: Mars is Hard. Here's Why.
Dr. Stan Love, NASA astronaut and all-around smart guy, flew to the International Space Station in 2008 and has worked on a number of flight analog programs to understand how to conduct deep-space missions. Love explores the challenges...
NASA
How NASA Will Protect Astronauts From Space Radiation
August 1972, as NASA scientist Ian Richardson remembers it, was hot. In Surrey, England, where he grew up, the fields were brown and dry, and people tried to stay out of the Sun, indoors and televisions on. But for several days that...
NASA
Why Does NASA Observe the Sun in Different Colors?
The Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, spacecraft was launched on Feb. 11, 2010, and began collecting science data a few months later. With two imaging instruments – the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly and the Helioseismic and Magnetic...
NASA
NASA | X Marks the Spot: SDO Sees Reconnection
Two NASA spacecraft have provided the most comprehensive movie ever of a mysterious process at the heart of all explosions on the sun: magnetic reconnection. Magnetic reconnection happens when magnetic field lines come together, break...
NASA
NASA | Spacecraft Track Solar Storms From Sun To Earth
NASA's STEREO spacecraft and new data processing techniques have succeeded in tracking space weather events from their origin in the Sun's ultrahot corona to impact with the Earth 96 million miles away, resolving a 40-year mystery about...
NASA
NASA | SDO: Three Years in Three Minutes--With Expert Commentary
This version of SDO:Three Years in Three Minutes is extended and narrated by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center heliophysicist Alex Young. He highlights many interesting aspects of the video and points out several of the single-frame...
NASA
NASA | Scientists Answer Top Space Weather Questions, Part 1
NASA scientists answer some common questions about the sun, space weather, and how they affect the Earth. This is a two-part series. Part One addresses: 1. What is space weather? 2. What are coronal mass ejections? 3. What are solar...
NASA
The Faint Young Star Paradox: Solar Storms May Have Been Key to Life on Earth
Our sun's adolescence was stormy—and new evidence shows that these tempests may have been just the key to seeding life as we know it on Earth. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Genna Duberstein on / /
NASA
Solar Storms May Have Been Key to Life on Earth (short)
Our sun's adolescence was cooler than today, but stormy—and new evidence shows that these tempests may have been just the key to seeding life as we know it on Earth. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Joy Ng based on source...
NASA
NASA | IRIS Spots Its Largest Solar Flare
On Jan. 28, 2014, NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, witnessed its strongest solar flare since it launched in the summer of 2013. Solar flares are bursts of x-rays and light that stream out into space, but scientists...
NASA
NASA | The Best Observed X-class Flare
On March 29, 2014 the sun released an X-class flare. It was observed by NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS; NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO; NASA's Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, or...
NASA
NASA | Space Weather Vocabulary
We are all familiar with weather on Earth, but how much do you know about weather in space? Suitable for all ages, this introduction to space weather covers vocabulary like coronal mass ejection (CME), solar wind, and solar flare. It...
NASA
STEREO Mission Turns 10
Launched ten years ago, on Oct. 25, 2006, the twin spacecraft of NASA’s STEREO mission – short for Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory – have given us unprecedented views of the sun, including the first-ever simultaneous view of...
Next Animation Studio
Short circuits in magnetosphere cause radiation spots on Earth
Scientists are starting to understand how solar storms use currents in Earth’s magnetic shield to land some punches.
NASA
NASA | Scientists Answer Top Space Weather Questions, Part II
NASA scientists answer some common questions about the sun, space weather, and how they affect the Earth. This is a two-part series. Part Two addresses: 1. Do all flares and CMEs affect the Earth? 2. What happens when a flare or CME hits...
NASA
NASA | The Truth about 2012 - Solar Storms
Should we be concerned about solar storms in 2012? Heliophysicist Alex Young from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center sorts out truth from fiction.
NASA
NASA | Late Summer M5 Solar Flare
On Aug. 24, 2014, the sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 8:16 a.m. EDT. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and STEREO captured images of the flare, which erupted on the left side of the sun. Solar flares are powerful bursts...
NASA
NASA | Big Sunspot 1520 Releases X1.4 Class Flare
An X1.4 class flare erupted from the center of the sun, peaking on July 12, 2012 at 12:52 PM EDT. It erupted from Active Region 1520 which rotated into view on July 6. This video uses SDO AIA footage in 131(teal), 171(gold) and 335...
NASA
NASA | SDO Observes a Cinco de Mayo Solar Flare
The sun emitted a significant solar flare, peaking at 6:11 pm EDT on May 5, 2015. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful...
NASA
NASA | Mission Trailer: IRIS Readies For a New Challenge
NASA is getting ready to launch a new mission, a mission to observe a largely unexplored region of the solar atmosphere that powers its dynamic million-degree outer atmosphere and drives the solar wind. In late June 2013, the Interface...
NASA
NASA | Jewel Box Sun
This video of the sun based on data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, shows the wide range of wavelengths -- invisible to the naked eye -- that the telescope can view. SDO converts the wavelengths into an image humans can...
NASA
NASA | Holiday Lights On the Sun
The sun emitted a significant solar flare, peaking at 7:24 p.m. EST on Dec. 19, 2014. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation....
NASA
NASA | A Big Blast
A beautiful prominence eruption producing a coronal mass ejection (CME) shot off the east limb (left side) of the sun on April 16, 2012. Such eruptions are often associated with solar flares, and in this case an M1 class (medium-sized)...
NASA
NASA’s 4K View of April 17 Solar Flare
On April 17, 2016, an active region on the sun’s right side released a mid-level solar flare, captured here by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. This solar flare caused moderate radio blackouts, according to NOAA’s Space Weather...