Station Keeping Maneuver #19 Today

SDO will execute Station Keeping Maneuver #19 today at 2222 UTC (6:22 p.m. ET). From 2200 to 2245 UTC (6:00-6:45 p.m. ET) science data may be missing or blurred. Station-keeping maneuvers are designed to keep SDO’s orbit in the right place when the spacecraft travels through the geostationary belt twice each day.

Momentum Management Maneuver #35 Today

SDO will execute Momentum Management Maneuver #35 today at 1911 UTC (3:11 p. ET). From 1830 to 1930 (UTC) science data may be missing or blurred.

Eclipse season started on 08 Aug 2019 and continues until 01 Sept 2019. Each day around midnight Mountain Standard Time (0700 UTC) the Earth passes between SDO and the Sun. This is a normal part of our geosynchronous orbit.

Today's Maneuver is the EVE Cruciform

SDO is executing the EVE Cruciform calibration maneuver today. Between 1100 and 1600 UTC (7:00 am--12 noon ET), science data and images may be blurry or absent.

Today's Maneuver and Website Upgrade

Today between 1500 and 2200 UTC (11:00 am-6 pm ET) SDO will execute the HMI roll maneuver. During this maneuver science may be missing or blurry.

The SDO website upgrade will be happening today and tomorrow. There will be times when the website is unavailable while the new servers are brought on-line and services restarted.

Today's Maneuver

SDO is running the EVE Field of View and HMI/AIA Flatfield maneuvers today. During these maneuvers the science data may be blurry or absent.

New Features on Website

The SDO website (sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov) has two new features. If you follow the "Sun Now" link to https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/, you will see two new selections. One is the ability to access the various images through the "Data Links" menu under each image. Clicking on that link will show a menu of image size and other options.

The other is the ability to jump to earlier versions of the Sun Now page through the "Browse Daily Images" in the left column. You can enter a date and Jump to that day's images or Jump one day at a time.

These features were added due to feedback we received from users of the website.

Enjoy!

Happy Summer Solstice and Congratulations to Phil Scherrer!

Today at 1554 UTC (11:54 a.m. ET) the Sun reached its most northerly point in the year. As a result, we have the most daylight hours in the northern hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere has the most dark hours. At the solstice the Sun appears to stall and turn around, heading towards the south and northern winter. It's the official beginning of summer and all because the Earth's rotation axis is tilted 23° from the plane of its orbit. Here's an AIA 193 Å to celebrate.

But today is also a day to congratulate Phil Scherrer of Stanford University who is also the HMI PI and the person who watches over the JSOC with the HMI and AIA data. Dr. Scherrer was awarded the Solar Physics Division's Hale Prize last week at the 234th Meeting of the AAS. The Hale Prize is awarded annually to a scientist for outstanding contributions to the field of solar astronomy.

Dr. Scherrer has certainly made contributions to solar physics. He has measured and studied the Sun's magnetic field for 50 years. As important, he has encouraged others to use his data as well. He has also worked in helioseismology, both measuring the velocities of the Sun's surface and the theory of ow those measurements tell us something about the Sun. It is hard to know what our field would look like if he hadn't been around.

Congratulations Phil!