Science

This Sun Tongue Can Swallow 55 Earths

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http://www.viddler.com/player/b6aece98/","customParams":{"flashVars":"fake=1"},"width":500,"height":488.75,"ratio":0.9375,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"viddler","wrap":true,"agegate":false} ); The Sun seems to be having digestive problems, and just burped this 700,000-kilometer-long magnetic filament. That’s half the diameter of the Sun or about two times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. Fortunately, it’s not headed our way.


February 4, 2010
Cameras

New NASA Solar Spacecraft To Record Sun At IMAX Resolution

This is the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly. Together with the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, and the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment, it will capture the Sun at IMAX resolution every 10 seconds. They will travel together inside NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft.