On April 21, 2010, the public got its first view of high-def movies of the Sun taken from a satellite platform. To celebrate the first anniversary (photon? particle/wave?) of the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO), NASA has released a video of the year's greatest hits, set to appropriately ethereal music.
The space agency describes the video as, "beautiful, interesting, and mesmerizing." If anything, they're underselling the video.
On their Website, NASA continues,
In the last year, the sun has gone from its quietest period in years to the activity marking the beginning of solar cycle 24. SDO has captured every moment with a level of detail never-before possible. The mission has returned unprecedented images of solar flares, eruptions of prominences, and the early stages of coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
If you've got the bandwidth, you'll want to click on the HD version -- once the video begins. Have a great weekend.
