In February 2020, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory — SDO — is celebrating its 10th year in space. Over the past decade the spacecraft has kept a constant eye on the Sun, studying how the Sun creates solar activity and drives space...

On July 29, 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. When it began operations on Oct. 1, 1958, NASA consisted mainly of the four...

Get ready to view the solar eclipse with these helpful safety tips. No one should ever look directly at the sun, even during an eclipse. Many options for indirect viewing are outlined in this video. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon...

On April 3, 2009, countries from around the world participated in the '100 Hours of Astronomy' webcast to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy. Produced to support the webcast, this movie highlights the discoveries of the SOHO...

In order to provide the clearest scientific data for its entire 5 year mission, SDO had to undergo a rigorous, 2 month testing phase. After giving it an all-clear, the team of people who designed, built and tested the satellite now have...

This short program overview for NASA's heliophysics division explains how NASA studies the sun--and more importantly--how it affects our daily lives. Learn more:Or get tweeted by NASA:

A countdown of the top 5 solar discoveries from the Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum. These include the discoveries of sunspots, the solar cycle, the heliosphere, aurora formation, and space weather. Number 2 in the Top 5 Solar...

On March 29, 2014 the sun released an X-class flare. It was observed by NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS; NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO; NASA's Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, or...

SDO Project Scientist Dean Pesnell explains how the SDO's Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument suite will allow us to take pictures of the sun at multiple temperatures and at resolutions never before seen. Learn more about the...

This live-action video program is about the word biosphere. The program is designed to reinforce and support a student's comprehension and retention of the word biosphere through use of video footage, photographs, diagrams and colorful,...

NASA's Parker Solar Probe is heading to the Sun. Why won't the spacecraft melt? Thermal Protection System Engineer Betsy Congdon (Johns Hopkins APL) outlines why Parker can take the heat. Music credit: Cheeky Chappy [Main Track] by Jimmy...

Launched ten years ago, on Oct. 25, 2006, the twin spacecraft of NASA’s STEREO mission – short for Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory – have given us unprecedented views of the sun, including the first-ever simultaneous view of...

Parker Solar Probe is NASA's mission to the Sun. The spacecraft will launch summer 2018. Music credit: Luminous Skies [Underscore] by Andrew Prahlow Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Genna Duberstein (USRA): Lead Producer Steve...

When depicting an eclipse path, data visualizers have usually chosen to represent the moon's shadow as an oval. By bringing in a variety of NASA data sets, visualizer Ernie Wright has created a new and more accurate representation of the...

Submit your name and it will be included in a memory card that will fly aboard Parker Solar Probe spacecraft. Come with us as we plunge through the Sun's atmosphere, closer to the surface than any spacecraft before it, facing brutal heat...

New light has been shed on the invisible forces shaping our near-Earth environment, unveiling a fundamental physical phenomenon. Using a specialized suite of instruments aboard NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale - or MMS - spacecraft,...

A new spacecraft is journeying to the Sun to snap the first pictures of the Sun’s north and south poles. Solar Orbiter, a collaboration between ESA (the European Space Agency) and NASA will have its first opportunity to launch from Cape...

This short teaser video introduces NASA's newest spacecraft to the heliophysics fleet, the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Or get tweeted by NASA:

These two nearly identical spacecraft launched in August 2012 and with only six months in operation, they may well be rewriting science textbooks. The probes study the Van Allen belts, gigantic radiation belts surrounding Earth, which...

On March 20, 2009, at 1:00 p.m. EDT, join a panel of scientists for a live Sun-Earth Day Webcast. During the webcast, scientists will share discoveries about the sun, while students monitor the sun and prepare their own space weather...

One instrument watching for the comet was the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which adjusted its cameras in order to watch the trajectory. Not only does this help with comet research, but it also helps orient instruments on SDO --...

Scientists Michael Hesse and John Dorelli explain the science objectives of the MMS mission. The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission is comprised of four identically instrumented spacecraft that will use Earth’s magnetosphere as a...

Sea ice acts as an air conditioner for the planet, reflecting energy from the sun. On September 17, the Arctic sea ice reached its minimum extent for 2014. At 1.94 million square miles (5.02 million square kilometers), it’s the sixth...

Solar scientists Natchimuthuk Gopalswamy, Nelson Reginal, Eric Christian, and Sarah Jaeggli discuss the 2016 eclipse and how it is great preparation for the 2017 eclipse. As the moon slowly covers the face of the sun on the morning of...