AIA 304 Å · Chromosphere
SDO · loading…aligning…
The Wall
Each filter sees plasma at a different temperature, which means a different altitude in the Sun's atmosphere. Same moment, nine different suns. Click any of them to study it above.
The Corona's Edge
SOHO's coronagraphs block the blinding disk with a little occulting paddle (the dark circle) so the faint outer atmosphere shows. This is where you catch coronal mass ejections — billion-ton clouds of plasma — actually leaving the Sun. The white circle marks the Sun's true size.
LASCO C2
SOHO · loading…aligning…
The inner corona, out to about 6 solar radii. CMEs show up here first.
LASCO C3
SOHO · loading…aligning…
The wide view, out to 30 solar radii. Bright dots are background stars and planets crossing the field; streaks are cosmic-ray hits.
This Week's Activity
X-ray Flux · 3 days
GOES · loading…The Sun's X-ray brightness, measured every minute from geostationary orbit. Spikes are flares; the letters are the flare classes — each one 10× the one below it.
Flare Log · 7 days
GOES · loading…Every flare the GOES X-ray sensor logged this week, newest first.
About these instruments
The Solar Dynamics Observatory (NASA, launched 2010) images the full disk every 10–12 seconds through the AIA telescopes and measures the surface magnetic field with HMI. SOHO (ESA/NASA, launched 1995 — the elder statesman of sun-watching) carries the LASCO coronagraphs. X-ray flux and flare classifications come from NOAA's GOES satellites. Imagery courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, and the SOHO LASCO consortium. Want to scrub through 30+ years of the Sun's history? The full archive lives at helioviewer.org.