Momentum Management Maneuver #22 Complete

SDO executed Momentum Management Maneuver #22 today at 1815 UTC (2:15 pm ET). We used 48.8 gr (1.72 oz) of propellant to change the reaction wheel speeds to the desired rotation rates. Science data may be missing from 1800-1830 (UTC) while the burn was executed.

SDO 171 and 304 images get brighter

We've adjusted the settings on the AIA 171 Å (yellow) and 304 Å (orange) images - the Sun isn't getting brighter, the settings have been changed so features show up better.  The image below shows the comparison. 

Happy 5th Birthday to SDO Science Data!

Today is the 5th birthday of SDO Science Data. On May 1, 2010, SDO was commissioned as a NASA observatory and began sending science data to scientists and the public. We have watched Solar Cycle 24 rise to solar maximum, storing about 7 PBytes of data, releasing almost 200 million images, and having about 1900 scientific papers published describing new things we have learned.

I thought I would share two new images that show the solar magnetic field as only SDO can. The first is the average of the HMI magnetic field at each point on the Sun. White areas show where the magnetic field points out of the Sun and black regions are where the field points into the Sun. Grey regions have a magnetic field of zero. The Carrington longitude is used to give features on the Sun a position. We use the sine(latitude) rather than the latitude to avoid having the Sun look distorted like the Mercator maps of the Earth. The little circles are individual active regions. Even though this is an average over the last 5 years, we can see diagonal swaths of field in both the north and south hemispheres.

The other picture is how much each point on the Sun changed over those five years. The white points changed a lot while the black points changed very little. Now you see the diagonal lines a little better. Most of the changes in the solar magnetic field happen in the "active latitudes" where sunspots and flares are found. Very little happens at high latitudes. There is also very little happening along the Sun's equator.
You should compare these pictures with the averages of AIA 171 released two years ago.

SDO was launched to study the Sun's magnetic field. It is done a great job of recording the magnetic field, flares, filaments, and coronal holes during the rise of Solar Cycle 24. As Solar Cycle 24 fades SDO will continue to measure and report the magnetic field and what that magnetic field does in the solar atmosphere.

Thanks to the HMI for creating the maps of the magnetic field I used to create these pictures, and many thanks to the entire SDO team for the amazing mission they have run for the last 5 years.

SDO is GO!

Spring Maneuvers and Beakman

SDO has performed maneuvers the past two Wednesdays. The EVE cruciform on April 8 and the field of view rasters on April 15.

Today SDO was featured in Beakman Jax in the Washington Post and Annapolis Capital. Check it out at You Can with Beakman and Jax website. Look for the April 19, 2015 strip.

SDO is Back in Science Mode

SDO returned to science mode at 1534 UTC (11:34 a.m. ET). The high-gain antennas were configured for the remainder of day today through the high-gain antenna handover tonight. The HMI roll maneuver will wait until we understand what happened last night.

Many thanks to the FOT and ACS teams for recovering SDO and getting the data flowing again!

SDO is Almost Back to Normal

SDO is now pointing at the Sun with one high-gain antenna returning science data. The other high-gain antenna is pointing in the wrong direction and engineers are working on the best way to move it to the correct direction. Science data is flowing to the SOCs but interruptions may occur as the observatory is returned to the proper state.

SDO Offline

Last night at 0551 UTC (0152 a.m. ET), as SDO began the scheduled roll calibration maneuver, the ACS went into Sun-acquisition mode. SDO remains in that mode while the engineers look for the cause. The spacecraft is stable and in contact with the SDO MOC. Science data is not being taken at this time. Updates will be posted when available.