NASA launched the Solar Dynamics Observatory into space on February 11, 2010
to help scientists better understand the sun. Five years later, the spacecraft is still monitoring our sun and capturing incredible high-definition images, at a rate of nearly one image per second. To celebrate the probe’s 5th anniversary NASA created this highlight reel of SDO’s greatest images it has collected over the last five years.
Scientists use the images and information gathered from SDO to try to understand the sun’s volatility and how it affects Earth. The data is being analyzed to try to explain such phenomenons like why the sun’s atmosphere is up to 1,000 times hotter than its surface, and why the sun’s magnetic fields are constantly on the move.
The breathtaking video features beautiful solar flares, fluctuating sun spots, the awe-inspiring aura of plasma called the corona that stretches millions of miles outside of the sun’s atmosphere and massive explosions on the sun spewing giant clouds of solar material into space. This is definitely some hot fucking space porn.