Washington: NASA has released stunning solar
images some of which highlight never-before-seen material
streaming out of the Sun while others show extreme close-ups
of activity on the Sun`s surface.
"These initial images show a dynamic Sun that I had never
seen in more than 40 years of solar research," said Richard
Fisher, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA
Headquarters in Washington.
The images were taken by Solar Dynamics Observatory, or
SDO that was recently launched by NASA. It is the first
mission of the organisation`s Living with a Star Program or
LWS -- one of the NASA`s many missions to study the Sun and
space environment.
"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 goal of LWS is to develop the scientific
understanding necessary to address those aspects of the
connected Sun-Earth system that directly affect our lives and
society, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
said on its website.
"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," Fisher
said.
PTI
