The first light press release for NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory was just last week! I’ve written a bit about SDO, particularly about the launch. Aleya is heavily involved with the project, particularly the education and public outreach (EPO) aspect.
In just a month or so of taking data, SDO is already capturing fantastic images of the Sun. Gaze upon the awesome sample image:
NASA organized another tweetup for the first light press conference. As with the Solar Dynamics Observatory launch, our job as “twitter correspondents” was to communicate the events at the press conference while also interacting with other people on twitter.
The twitter correspondents group had two major events: a tour of the Air and Space Museum in DC (@AirAndSpace), and the SDO press conference! I love visiting Air and Space, there are so many cool vehicles, artifacts and displays. I’ve uploaded some pictures to flickr.
The second, and most important stop was the press conference. We were treated to the first release of images from SDO, including some fantastic movies of a prominence and a spectacular ultraviolet image of the Sun. The images, movies and spectra were briefly described by the instrument PIs (principal investigators) and the SDO Project Scientist (Dean Pesnell).
The first light images and movies are available on the NASA SDO First Light page.
There are a few more pictures from the press conference on flickr.
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