NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Captures 133-Day Time Lapse Of Sun

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which has been the space agency's unblinking eye on the Sun, has captured the solar activity from August 12 to December 22, 2022.

The information obtained from the 133 days of solar observations allowed for a wealth of new understandings regarding the operation of our nearest star and how it affects the solar system.

Since it launched on February 11, 2010, NASA's SDO has steadily imaged the Sun in 4K x 4K resolution for nearly 13 years.

According to the space agency, this 133-day time lapse showcases photos taken at a wavelength of 17.1 nanometers, which is an extreme-ultraviolet wavelength that shows the Sun's outermost atmospheric layer: the corona.

Watch: 133 Days on the Sun

"Compiling images taken 108 seconds apart, the movie condenses 133 days, or about four months, of solar observations into 59 minutes. The video shows bright, active regions passing across the face of the Sun as it rotates."

"The Sun rotates approximately once every 27 days. The loops extending above the bright regions are magnetic fields that have trapped hot, glowing plasma. These bright regions are also the source of solar flares, which appear as bright flashes as magnetic fields snap together in a process called magnetic reconnection."

Although SDO has kept a fixed gaze on the sun, the space agency acknowledged that there have been a few instances when it hasn't. 

Some of the dark frames in the video are caused by Earth or the Moon eclipsing SDO as they pass between the spacecraft and the Sun.