Can I just say thank you NASA? Thank you, thank you, thank you!
The good folks at NASA have brought us this jaw-dropping timelapse of our almost unimaginably beautiful Sun.
(Yes, I did indeed get a bit shiny eyed watching it. Hey, I’m not to proud of a nerd to admit it. I mean LOOK at it…IN-CRED-IBLE!)
It was taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (or, as the cool kids call it SDO) as it orbited our planet for the last three years.
The SDO is whipping around the Earth at 6,876 mph and the Earth is flying around the sun at a mind boggling 67,062 mph.
The almost four minute long video…two images per day…was captured in extreme ultraviolet light (171 angstroms) and transposed into light our puny little human eyeballs can handle.
The temperature of what we are looking at is around 600,000 kelvins (about 1.08 million F).
During these four minutes we’re treated to humongous solar flares, Venus crossing the sun (I got to see this myself on a telescope down here on Terra), and “solar rain.”
And all for the low low price of a ticket to ride this tiny blue marble floating in space.
Prepare to be blow away.
Press play.
And feel your jaw drop as you watch this ode to Sol.
[Via theatlantic]
