NASA releases close-up photos and video of the sun from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)

A NASA satellite has begun showing spectacular new images of the sun, which could give scientists new insight into solar processes.
The recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has begun to show images never seen before, extreme close-ups of the sun’s surface, and high resolution images of solar flares.


Picture special: NASA keeping a close eye on the sun

"These initial images show a dynamic sun that I had never seen in more than 40 years of solar research,” NASA Heliophysics Division director Richard Fisher said.
"SDO will change our understanding of the sun and its processes, which affect our lives and society. This mission will have a huge impact on science, similar to the impact of the Hubble Space Telescope on modern astrophysics.”
Video 1: The sun as you've never seen it before (Quicktime required)

The SDO has been billed as the “most advanced spacecraft ever designed to study the sun”.
The observatory’s five-year mission will examine the sun's magnetic field and the sun’s impact on Earth's atmosphere and climate.
Video 2: A movie of a March 30, 2010 prominence eruption (Quicktime required)

The observatory is capable of taking pictures 10 times clearer than high-definition TV.
The information is hoped to learn about the damage solar flares can do to communication satellites and power supplies.
The observatory will upload 1.5 terabytes of data a day, equal to 500,000 songs on an MP3 player.
"These amazing images, which show our dynamic sun in a new level of detail, are only the beginning of SDO's contribution to our understanding of the sun," said SDO Project Scientist Dean Pesnell.
The sun in dramatic close-up