STRANGE BEAUTY: It’s been almost a year since NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory began taking pictures of the sun. As the first anniversary of First Light approaches on April 21st, researchers are taking stock of the observatory’s many accomplishments. One of the most profound results turns out to be aesthetic: the sun is more beautiful than anyone imagined. Consider the following extreme ultraviolet image, taken just hours ago, of the magnetic canopy of sunspot complex 1191-1193:

This stunning snapshot is actually routine material for SDO. The observatory produces a daily torrent of beauty that, even now, mission scientists haven’t grown used to. Normally unflappable researchers are frequently caught staring slack-jawed at SDO movies. And when they’re done, they don’t have the vocabulary to describe what they have seen. Many of the phenomena SDO catches have no textbook names. SDO’s starscapes may turn out to be as prized to poets, artists, and writers as they are to no-nonsense solar physicists.

fr/spaceweather.com