Three years ago, the Solar Dynamics Observatory was launched into orbit atop an Atlas V rocket. Here is a NASA video showing the launch and the amazing waves that rippled away from the rocket has we passed through a sundog. We were launched to "learn why our star is changing our lives." Since then we have been busy doing that. SDO data is helping us understand how the million-Kelvin corona is heated, letting us watch magnetic recombination take place, and understand how the magnetic field creates solar activity. Our data has been examined by people around the world, using the SDO websites and HelioViewer.
SDO is a great mission and we look forward to the next year of spectacular data!
