The “eclipse season” is going on for the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). This is the time when our planet can not refrain from turning its attention and catching successful shots.
SDO was launched in 2009, and placed in the nearest circular 22238-mile geostationary orbit, orbiting the Earth. For the overwhelming majority, the device plays an important role, since during its observation of the nearest star, it has an unlocked and untouched view. And thanks to him, you can get pictures of solar phenomena, such as solar flares, coronal mass ejections, coronal loops, prominences and sunspots in the highest resolution. However, sometimes the Earth inevitably stands on the line just during the solar orbit, thereby getting into the frame and interrupting the photo session.
Now for us came the middle of the spring season of the eclipse of 2016, which will last until March 12. And the season began on February 19. Every year there are 2 eclipse seasons closer to the equinoxes. Only twice a year an event occurs when the Sun is located directly above the Earth's equator, and the northern and southern hemispheres receive the same amount of light. As one would expect, at the beginning and end of the eclipse season the amount of visibility of solar activity is limited, but in the middle of the eclipse (approximately now) it can last up to 72 minutes.
Any spacecraft orbiting the earth that is watching the sun struggles with this eclipse, but the SDO is in orbit designed to minimize interruption.
This animation constructs the results of ultraviolet observations made by SDO at a wavelength of 304 angstroms. At this length, characteristics can be seen in the lower corona of the Sun (solar multi-million levels of the atmosphere). The brightest spots are located where the processes of heating of high-energy plasma continue, producing so-called active regions.
